During the visit to Istanbul, Kazakhstan’s delegation reached preliminary agreements on cooperation on a number of projects with the representatives of Turkish business community. This visit is a continuation of the dialogue with foreign investors, which was previously established through video conferencing.

The delegation comprised the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Almas Aidarov, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Turkey Abzal Saparbekuly, Deputy CEO of KAZAKH INVEST Galym Uzbekov, as well as the representatives of local executive bodies and quasi-public sector of Kazakhstan. The Turkish side was represented by the owners and heads of about 30 large companies.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the issues of Kazakh-Turkish trade, economic, investment cooperation and further improvement of the investment climate.

In his speech, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Almas Aidarov noted that Turkish investors are among the most active investors today. By the end of this year, it is expected to implement about 5 new investment projects worth about $ 160 million, in such sectors as infrastructure, machinery building, food processing and woodworking.

The Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Turkey Abzal Saparbekuly noted in his speech that Kazakhstan and Turkey are strategic partners with common historical, cultural and fraternal ties. During 8 months of 2020, despite the pandemic, trade turnover amounted to over $ 2 billion recording 1.4% increase compared to the same period in 2019. By the end of 2019, about $ 360 million of Turkish investments were attracted, which is a new absolute record on an annualized basis.

In his video message, Berik Bekenov, Chairman of the Board of Kazakhstan center for industry and export "QazIndustry "JSC, noted Kazakhstan's interest in attracting Turkish investments. The country has high growth potential in manufacturing in many niches. Sites of special economic and industrial zones are ready to accept investors interested in implementing investment projects. With the participation of Turkish investments, 10 industrial projects over $200 million have already been implemented in the FEZ territories. In partnership with the Turkish business, the company has established the production of carpet products, electronic-optical devices, solid and liquid waterproofing materials based on bitumen.

As part of the event, a number of bilateral meetings were held with potential investors who expressed their intention to implement investment projects in Kazakhstan in manufacturing, agribusiness, as well as through the mechanism of public-private partnership.

As a result of the negotiations, 5 agreements for about $ 160 million were signed. According to the documents, it is planned to implement projects for construction of a logistics and shopping and entertainment center, a greenhouse, and a heat source in Kazakhstan. In addition, there are plans to build a plant for production of gas-electric stoves.