Kazakhstan, U.S. explore new avenues for economic cooperation
A “Republic of Kazakhstan – United States of America” Business Roundtable was held Friday in Astana, bringing together representatives of government agencies, the business community, international corporations, financial institutions, and expert circles from both countries, Qazinform News Agency reports, citing the Kazakh MFA press service.
The event served as an important platform for discussing a new stage of Kazakhstan-U.S. economic cooperation based on investment, technology transfer, and the development of joint manufacturing projects, as well as the expansion of trade, economic, and investment ties.
Welcoming remarks were delivered by Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin, Representative of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Negotiations with the United States Erzhan Kazykhan, Deputy Chief of Mission of the United States to Kazakhstan Deborah Robinson, Senior Vice President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Khush Choksy, and other distinguished participants.
Addressing the Roundtable, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alibek Kuantyrov noted that more than 600 U.S. companies are successfully operating in Kazakhstan. At the same time, total U.S. investment in the country has exceeded 100 billion US dollars.
“Kazakhstan has substantial potential for developing high-value-added industries, ranging from petrochemicals and metallurgy to mechanical engineering and agricultural processing. Today, we are creating new opportunities for production localization and the development of modern industrial clusters geared both to the domestic market and exports,” said Kuantyrov.
As examples of successful investment cooperation, he highlighted projects involving leading U.S. companies such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, PepsiCo, Mars and Cove Capital, while particularly emphasizing the promising Firebird–NVIDIA partnership.
Participants also discussed the development of investment cooperation, energy, transport and logistics, digital transformation, infrastructure projects, the financial sector and innovation.
One of the key outcomes of the event was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Partnership between the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan and the U.S.–Kazakhstan Business Council of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The document aims to strengthen direct engagement between the business communities of the two countries, implement joint investment projects, and enhance institutional cooperation.
In addition, Deputy Foreign Minister Kuantyrov held a separate meeting with the U.S. Trade Mission's delegation.
During the meeting, the parties discussed current issues related to further advancing Kazakhstan–U.S. investment and trade-economic cooperation.
“Twenty-five years ago, around 75 percent of foreign direct investment was concentrated in the oil, gas, and metallurgical sectors. Today, their combined share has declined to about 35 percent, demonstrating the profound diversification of Kazakhstan’s economy,” the Deputy Minister noted.
According to him, some of the most successful examples of high-value-added investment are projects being implemented jointly with American companies.
As Qazinform News Agency reported on Thursday, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with Khush Choksy, the US Chamber of Commerce's Senior Vice President for the Middle East, Türkiye, and Central Asia.