Industrial and investment cooperation between Kazakhstan and China in the post-COVID period discussed in Beijing

The third Kazakhstan-China forum on industrial and investment cooperation was held in Beijing as part of the 12th China Overseas Investment Fair. The event was organized by the China Overseas Development Association and KAZAKH INVEST.

The event was attended by over 200 representatives of Kazakh and Chinese government and quasi-government sectors, as well as the members of business community of the two countries.

During his opening speech, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Almas Aidarov noted that today there is a dynamic development of trade, economic and investment relations between the two countries. In order to minimize the negative impact of the pandemic on the economy of Kazakhstan, the country's government decided to create new investment instruments. The head of state also pointed out the need for serious transformations and reforms aimed at increasing investment attractiveness, ensuring transparency and predictability of state policies.

During the panel session dedicated to resumption of work in the context of the pandemic and the potential of further investment cooperation between Kazakhstan and China, the Chairman of the Board of KAZAKH INVEST Baurzhan Sartbayev made a presentation on the investment opportunities of Kazakhstan.

At the same time, T. Malikov, the representative of the AIFC in China, presented to the participants the unique conditions provided by the AIFC platform for doing business in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

The President of the China Overseas Development Association Hu Weiping, Deputy Director of the Foreign Investment Department of the State Committee for Development and Reforms of the People's Republic of China Zheng Zhiping, the heads of China Power International Holding, China Tianchen Engineering Corporation, Universal Energy, China International Investment Management Consulting, General China Insurance, PICC, China Credit Insurance, China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group, Gezhouba Overseas Investment and others also participated in the forum.

During the event, the parties discussed the issues of interaction on the implementation of investment projects during a pandemic, prospects for investment cooperation, possible risks that companies of the two countries may face when implementing joint investment projects at this time and ways to overcome them.

It should be noted that today, Kazakh-Chinese projects at various stages of development amount to $ 24.7 billion with the creation of more than 25 thousand jobs. Of these, 16 projects worth $ 4 billion have already been implemented. Among them are such high-tech projects as production of cars and electric cars,  production of rapeseed oil and 3 solar power plants with a total capacity of 180 MW. At the same time, it is planned to commission a number of projects in the fields of agribusiness, mining and metallurgy, infrastructure, light and food industries next year.

China Overseas Investment Fair is an annual investment forum held in Beijing. The event is organised by order of the State Committee for Development and Reforms (SCRD) of the PRC, the organizers are the "China Overseas Development Association" (under the SCRD PRC). More than 500 participants, including those from foreign countries, attend the Forum annually.