Deputy Foreign Minister Almas Aidarov stated that 43 foreign companies are considering relocating their offices from Russia to Kazakhstan, Qazmonitor reports citing Orda.kz.
Previously, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had instructed the government in a July 14 extended meeting to create good conditions for the relocation of foreign companies leaving the Russian market.
Aidarov says the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the national investment company Kazakh Invest are conducting negotiations with the interested companies.
"In light of the current geopolitical situation, [companies are] considering opening regional office[s] in Kazakhstan. Foreign companies, which leave the Russian market for one reason or another, declare their desire to maintain their influence in the Eurasian space. Big players have to be based somewhere in any case. And there are 265 such targetable companies today."
On July 20, American electronics manufacturer Honeywell opened a new assembly plant in Almaty. The company is also considering opening a regional office, which would make it one of the first foreign companies to do so.
Honeywell has already worked on several joint projects with Kazakh in the field of automation and artificial intelligence. Aidarov highlighted the corporation's contribution to the development of Kazakhstan's oil and gas since 1998 in his speech at the ceremony.
President of Honeywell in Central Asia, Turkey and Israel Uygar Doyuran noted that the market of Kazakhstan is important for the company, and the opening of their enterprise in the country will strengthen Kazakhstan's position in the Central Asian market.
Kazakh Invest commented that the relocation of such a company as Honeywell will serve as a "green light" for other companies to invest and possibly come to Kazakhstan.
