GOVERNMENT: Kazakhstani diplomatic missions to attract foreign investors

Earlier this week the Kazakh delegation headed by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Yerzhan Ashikbayev participated as an observer country in the 26th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in the capital of Ethiopia Addis Ababa.
Vice Minister Ashikbayev delivered a speech at a special event jointly organized by the Kazakh side and UNDP dedicated to the strengthening of South-South Cooperation for implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in Africa.
In his speech the Kazakh diplomat informed the guests of Kazakhstan's recent achievements and its contribution to the implementation of SDG and South-South global cooperation program. He pointed out the similarity of goals reflected in the Kazakhstan-2050 Strategy and the African Union Agenda 2063 in terms of SDG implementation. The participants were also informed of the joint project launched together with UNDP "Assistance to ministries of foreign affairs in Africa in terms of development of their potentials" envisaging institutional development assistance to African countries. Mr. Ashikbayev also drew attention of those present to Kazakhstan's initiative on creation of the Islamic Organization for Food Security that represents Kazakhstan's contribution to prevention of hunger and solution of food security problems in Africa. The participants of the event, including Foreign Minister of Ethiopia Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, noted the importance of Kazakhstan's technical assistance to Africa together with UNDP and praised timeliness and relevance of Kazakhstan's projects aimed at sustaining wellbeing of Africa.
On Tuesday, Chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan Daniyar Akishev said that 43 billion tenge was invested in Kazakhstan's economy within the framework of the property legalization campaign which is underway in the country these days. Mr. Akishev stressed that the simplified procedure of legalization and partial abolition of the requirement to keep money during a five-year period and pay a 10% duty allowed Kazakhstani banks to register additional 50 billion tenge between December 2015 and January 2016.
On Thursday, February 4, Vice Minister of Healthcare and Social Development Yelzhan Birtanov announced at a press briefing that the Mandatory Social Medical Insurance Fund of the Republic of Kazakhstan will start collecting payments since January 2017. According to Birtanov, the fund will have collected nearly 1 trillion tenge by 2021 that will be spent on medical services for population.
The same day an operational meeting was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan chaired by Minister Erlan Idrissov. The meeting was mainly dedicated to the issues of implementation of tasks set by Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev earlier. Minister Idrissov emphasized that the ministry and our diplomatic missions abroad should focus on attraction of foreign investment and implementation of the industrial and innovative projects within the Nurly Zhol program.
On Friday, Yerlan Khairov, Chairman of the Investment Committee of the Kazakh Ministry of Investment and Development, announced that foreign companies investing more than $12 million in Kazakhstan's economy - earlier they had to invest $20 million - will enjoy tax preferences. "In case they invest in one of six priority sectors of Kazakhstan's economy, i.e. metallurgy, chemical industry, petrochemistry, engineering industry, construction materials production or food industry, and if they invest over $2 million monthly calculation indices, they will be exempted from corporate income tax for a ten-year period, land tax for a ten-year period and property tax for an eight-year period. Foreign investors will be allowed to recruit foreigners without a quota for the period of construction, plus one year," he said. In his words, favorable investment climate in Kazakhstan helps attract multi-million investments in various sectors of economy. "Over the past ten years, volume of foreign investment in Kazakhstan has exceeded $200 billion," he added.
The same day Minister of Education and Science Aslan Sarinzhipov declared that six new student dormitories and 69 new schools will be commissioned in Kazakhstan in 2016. He made the announcement at the ministry's special meeting.