EDB Chairman Attended Meeting of Kazakh President’s Foreign Investors Council
Almaty, 18 May 2011. Igor Finogenov, Chairman of the EDB Executive Board, attended the 24 th Plenary Session of the Foreign Investors’ Council (FIC) under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. President Nursultan Nazarbayev addressed the meeting and named modernisation and reconstruction of Kazakhstan’s industrial facilities as the core agendum.
The President commented that such an emphasis was not selected at random, as the country has been pursuing an accelerated industrialisation programme since the last year. Since its independence, Kazakhstan has succeeded in creating favourable conditions for business and investments, said the President. «The country is heading for a market economy based on private ownership and free competition. As part of the state programme of accelerated industrial and innovative development for
The participants, who included the heads of major international financial organisations and transnational companies doing business in Kazakhstan, shared their international experience in modernisation. They elaborated on the contribution foreign companies make to the modernisation of the Kazakh economy as part of the
The meeting also heard reports by the Kazakh government on the achieved progress and planned measures for industrial modernisation in Kazakhstan.
As at 1 May of this year, Kazakhstan accounted for 34.89% of the EDB’s total investment portfolio, or over $881 million.
Summary
The Foreign Investors’ Council (FIC) was founded in 1998 as a vehicle for a direct dialogue between the Kazakh government and investors working the country. The FIC helps to promptly address issues pertaining to investments and improving investment climate in Kazakhstan. The FIC is headed by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and comprises the heads of the government, the Presidential administration and the National Bank of Kazakhstan on the one part, and the senior management of international economic and financial organisations and foreign companies on the other part. The main criterion for admittance to the FIC is direct investment in Kazakhstan of an equivalent of $100 million for foreign and international investors working in the extractive industry or $25 million for those investing in other sectors.
The Eurasian Development Bank is an international financial institution founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 in order to foster the development of market economy in its member states, their sustainable economic growth, and trade and economic ties between them. The EDB’s charter capital exceeds $1.5 billion. The member states are Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Tajikistan and Armenia.
The EDB’s Chairman Igor Finogenov was admitted to the FIC in December 2009. His admittance was announced at a plenary session of this representative and consultative body. A decree to that effect was signed by President Nazarbayev.