Kazakhstan draws 80 pct of FDI in Central Asia - top official
By Aynur Jafarova
Kazakhstan is one of the most attractive Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries for investments, according to the evaluations of specialists, and more than $160 billion in foreign direct investment has been attracted to the country since 1993, First Deputy Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev said at a meeting of the World Economic Forum (Davos Forum) in Baku on Monday.
The share of Kazakhstan in the attraction of foreign direct investment in the Central Asia region is 80 percent, Sagintayev told the meeting in the Azerbaijani capital, which is devoted to strategic dialogue on the future of South Caucasus and Central Asia.
Sagintayev also said the unemployment rate in Kazakhstan in recent years has been kept at a stable level not exceeding 5.5 percent.
Kazakhstan's financial potential and international reserves, including the funds of the National Fund, which have reached $87 billion, are being consolidated, he said.
"The success of Kazakhstan is also testified by the rating of the World Economic Forum, according to which Kazakhstan ranked 51st in the Global Competitiveness Index, moving over a year to the 21st spot in the group of countries with a high level of development," he said. "A new stage of global development associated with innovations, the latest knowledge and technologies, needs modernization of the economic foundation of the country."
In this regard, a program of industrial development of the country, aimed at diversifying the domestic industry, has been implemented since 2010, he said.
Currently, it is planned to implement more than 770 projects in Kazakhstan, which means the creation of more than 200,000 new jobs, Sagintayev said.
According to him, more than 530 enterprises put into operation over the past three years will allow to modernize the infrastructure. There are nine free economic zones as well as technoparks and industrial parks operating in the country.
Various financial and non-financial measures for the support of business are also envisaged, he added.
Taking into account the strategic goals put forward by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to enter the 30 most developed countries of the world, work will be carried out by 2050 on the modernization and transformation of the Kazakh economy based on the indicators inherent to this group of countries, in line with the standards of the world practice, Sagintayev said.
The first practical step towards this goal, according to him, will be the transformation of the country to the "green" economy.
Thus, the choice of Astana as the venue of the international exhibition EXPO-2017 is not occasional, with the main subject being energy of the future, Sagintayev stressed.
According to Sagintayev, there is a potential to develop cooperation and business initiatives of the Central Asian and Caucasus countries.
Taking into account the geographic location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Kazakhstan has great transport and logistics potential, he said.
According to Sagintayev, several important projects in the direction of the West-East and North-South are being implemented.
"They are transcontinental projects, which open up new opportunities for the growth of the trade and economic exchange for Kazakhstan and other countries of Central Asia without access to sea and located away from international markets. In particular, we are implementing the construction of the Western Europe-Western China highway. The Khorgos-Eastern Gates project envisaging an increase of the trade relations with the rapidly growing regions of the south-eastern Asia as well as with China is being carried out in the eastern part of the country," Sagintayev said.
Thanks to the implementation of these projects, issues related to many geographic barriers may be resolved, Sagintayev believes.
According to him, the next Astana Economic Forum will be held on May 26. The main goal of the forum is to search for solutions of topical international and regional problems, which most of the countries are facing. The key event of the VI Astana forum will be World Anti-Crisis Conference under the auspices of the United Nations, he said.
The World Anti-Crisis Conference, initiated by President Nazarbayev, is called to develop a global anti-crisis plan for the UN. Over 1,000 delegates from 60 world countries are due to attend.