President: We never raised issue of selling Kazakh lands to foreigners
ASTANA. KAZINFORM At the enlarged meeting with the Cabinet members held today in Akorda, President Nursultan Nazarbayev reiterated that there are no plans of selling Kazakh lands to foreigners. According to him, the Government applied the best experience of foreign countries on attraction of foreign investments in agriculture, while developing the amendments to the Land Code. "The issue of selling Kazakh lands to foreigners has never been raised," stressed the Head of State.
As N.Nazarbayev explained, it takes from 10 to 15 years to return the reserves invested in agriculture, which is proved by world practice. As per the national legislation, agricultural land leasing period in our country makes 10 years today. Despite this, Kazakhstan’s agricultural sector has not received any significant investments since then. Foreign investors are working only at 65 000 hectares of lands, that is only 0.06% of leased lands.
“Long-term land leasing is the way of attraction of investments around the world. Such countries as Belgium, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands do not impose any restrictions on ownership or leasing lands by foreign investors. The longest land leasing period is allowed in France – 99 years. Of course, foreign countries’ experience was taken into account while developing the Land Code provisions. However, the issue of selling Kazakh lands to foreigners has never been raised,” the President emphasized.