Thirty-six joint foreign investment projects worth a total of $3.7 billion were launched in Kazakhstan since the beginning of 2022, QazMonitor reports citing the ministry of foreign affairs.
Aibek Smadiyarov, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, shared the results of the ministerial activities this year at a press briefing yesterday. He spoke on the investment deals that Kazakhstan attracted in various economic sectors.
Investment pool
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our embassies are working to help promote domestic products in foreign markets, establish reliable business contacts with new partners in a mutually beneficial export-import process and attract foreign investment to Kazakhstan.”
“Since the beginning of this year, 36 investment projects with foreign participation worth $3.7 billion have started operation. More than 3.8 thousand jobs have been created. Moreover, at least five projects are expected to be commissioned by the end of this year.”
Today, the pool consists of 932 projects with investments from more than 30 countries for a total amount of about ₸32.1 trillion ($69.1 billion). They are estimated to create about 130 thousand workplaces.
Green Investments
Kazakhstan also focused on increasing its share of green investments. The goal is to join the world’s top 10 producers of green hydrogen.
“In October this year, the German-Swedish company Svevind signed an agreement with the government of Kazakhstan to build a plant for the production of green hydrogen with a design capacity of 20 GW. This project with the cost of $50 billion will allow the production of up to 2 million tons of green hydrogen per year.”
“At the last Global Conference COP27 in Egypt, the Kazakh government and Australian company Fortescue reached an agreement to implement projects related to green hydrogen production in our country.”
“During the visit of the Head of State to Paris, Minister of Energy Bolat Akchulakov signed a special agreement with the Government of France called ‘On the implementation of cooperation to combat global warming’. One of the points of this document is the construction of a 1 GW wind power plant with an energy storage system of 300-600 MWh in Zhambyl Oblast (in Mirny village). The project will be implemented by Total Eren and Samruk-Kazyna JSC.”
Transport and logistics
A considerable share of the agreements concerned the development of transport infrastructure.
“Given our location in the center of the Eurasian continent, we are strengthening the country's transit and logistics potential. A whole branch of international services, logistics, has already formed in Kazakhstan's economy. Now, this activity occupies almost 30% of the total services sector.”
“Further development of the Trans-Caspian international transport route, or the Middle Corridor, is of key importance to us.”
“Kazakhstan has already established itself as a reliable link of railway container transit between China on the one hand and Europe, Iran, and Central Asian countries on the other. Today, there are 13 international rail and road corridors crossing the territory of Kazakhstan, providing high-speed freight movement in the East-West, North-South directions.”