Roman Sklyar participates in Kazakh-French investment forum

In the course of the important international event, which was attended by over 150 representatives of the French business community, the topics of potential expansion of the Kazakh-French partnership not only at the state level, but also the cooperation of business circles and citizens of the two countries, were discussed.

The forum participants discussed the investment opportunities of Kazakhstan, the prospects for the implementation of joint projects and assessed the investment climate in our country.

As the deputy prime minister noted in his speech, today Kazakh-French relations can be described as a “strategic partnership,” which serves as an example of effective and mutually reinforcing cooperation based on strong traditions of friendship and mutual support. So, today an extensive legal framework has been created, a special place in which is the Strategic Partnership Agreement, signed in 2008.

In addition, in the person of Kazakhstan, French business has a reliable partner in the Central Asian region. Kazakhstan could become a conductor of the economic interests of European countries in the region. The traditionally successful practice of mutually beneficial cooperation in such areas as engineering, subsoil use, oil refining, energy efficiency, the development of transport and logistics infrastructure, pharmaceuticals and much more has already developed.

The forum participants noted that among French companies there is a high interest for investment in Kazakhstan, which is a strategic corridor linking the countries of the Eurasian continent. According to representatives of the French business community, France in the person of Kazakhstan has a reliable partner in Central Asia, a successful practice of mutually beneficial cooperation has developed between the two countries.

During the investment forum, a long-term contract was signed between AirLiquideKarabatanTechGases and Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industries for the supply of technical gases. The contract provides for the construction of a plant for the production of dry compressed air and nitrogen in the territory of the SEZ National Industrial Petrochemical Technopark and their delivery to the Integrated Gas Chemical Complex. This signing was the next step in the development of AirLiquide in Kazakhstan as part of a joint venture with Kazakhstan oil company JSC NC KazMunayGas.

Also, within the framework of the forum, about 10 bilateral meetings were held with companies covering projects in the field of energy, livestock, mining of minerals, the oil and gas industry before projects in the field of digitalization and automation of production, including: IDEMIA, AIRBUS GROUP, CNCR Group, ORANO MINING, BureauVeritas, IFP Energies Nouvelles and others.

Today, France is among the five key trade and investment partners of Kazakhstan. Over the years, mutual trade turnover reached $50 billion. Along with this, a number of large joint investment projects have been implemented in the uranium, oil and gas, titanium industries, in the field of transport engineering, the production of building materials, food products, etc., which made it possible to attract over the past 14 years more than $15.6 billion French investment. In total, more than 130 companies with French capital operate in Kazakhstan.

Despite these solid results, there is considerable potential for expanding and deepening bilateral partnerships in the economic sphere, especially in the three priority sectors identified by the Presidents of Kazakhstan and France: alternative energy, agriculture and digitalization.

Summing up the presentation, Roman Sklyar emphasized that Kazakhstan today is new opportunities and huge potential for profitable business.

“Our country has been consistently implementing reforms aimed at improving the investment climate, providing an open dialogue with entrepreneurs and improving the infrastructure to attract investment. In addition, Kazakhstan offers the best conditions for doing business and is interested in French partners who are willing to trade and invest in the creation of export-oriented, competitive high value-added industries,” Sklyar said.

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