UAE-Kazakhstan Business Forum Discusses Increasing Economic Cooperation between the Two Countries

Attended by his Highness Suroor bin Mohammed Al Nahyan and His Excellency Yeraly Tugzhanov, Head of Mangistau Region, Republic of Kazakhstan, the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry has organized the UAE-Kazakhstan Business Forum at the Jumeirah at Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi.

His Excellency Ibrahim Al-Mahmoud, Deputy Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Chamber; His Excellency Kairat Lama Sharif, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the UAE; and a number of Abu Dhabi Chamber Board Members attended the forum as well.

His Excellency Mohamed Helal Al-Muhairi, Director General of the Abu Dhabi Chamber, said in his welcoming remarks that the UAE and Kazakhstan enjoy deep, strong and strategic relations, especially on the economic and trade levels.

“The UAE is honored with such relations which the wise leadership translate into supporting development and social development with around one hundred million dollars,” Al-Muhairi said, noting that the Emirati investments in Kazakhstan hit two billion US dollars by the end of 2016.

“Trade exchange between the UAE and Kazakhstan reached $246 million 2016 including. The interest of Emirati investors and businessmen in agriculture in Kazakhstan forms a new door for more investment projects in the near future, especially considering the many investment opportunities in the agricultural, industrial, tourism and real-estate sectors,” he added.

The Director General pointed to the forum saying: “I would like to seize this opportunity to call businessmen and members of the Abu Dhabi Chamber and Kazakhstan Chamber to enter in trade and investment joint projects and to benefit from investment opportunities in each of Abu Dhabi and Kazakhstan, especially in pivotal sectors such as energy, real-estate, tourism, agriculture, banking services, transportation and telecommunications.”

Al-Muhairi concluded his speech by saying: “I look forward to the outcomes of this forum which will witness the signing of a number of agreements and MoUs to hold joint projects and form new partnerships as well as working together to realize the desired objectives by the leaderships of both countries.”

For his part, H.E. Yeraly Tugzhanov, Head of Mangistau Region in Kazakhstan, said: “We arrived with a group of businessmen representing the oil and oilfield service industries, transport, logistics, shipping, seaports, IT, engineering, agro-industrial complex, processing of agricultural products and tourism.

I am confident that in all these areas, following the results of the forum, we will receive concrete investment proposals and projects.”

“The main goal of our trip is to strengthen international cooperation, establish closer partnership relations and deepen and expand the strategic partnership achieved during the visit of the President of Kazakhstan to the UAE in January last year.”

Tugzhanov pointed out that Mangistau Region is located in the south west of Kazakhstan and occupies an advantageous geo-economic location, and that the Aktau seaport is the western gateway to Kazakhstan and it that plays a key role in ensuring the country’s access to the world commodity market.

“Gross regional product for 2017 amounted to about $6 billion. The annual growth is 3%,” he said, adding: “In the structure of GRP, the largest share is occupied by industry at 51%, construction, transport and logistics at 7%, wholesale and retail trade at 4%.”

“The sector of oil and gas is one of the priority areas of the region in the economy of the republic. The region’s share in the industrial production of the republic is 14.4% - second place of the Atyrau region.”

Tugzhanov stated that foreign trade turnover for 2017 amounted to $4.4 billion including exports of goods at $4.2 billion and imports at $204.6 million.

“The entrepreneurial sector is actively developing,” he said, adding “the subject of small and medium-sized businesses produced products with growth of 10% at $3 billion. In the rating of ease of doing, the region ranks second in the country.”

Head of Mangistau Region added that the existing climatic conditions make it possible to build solar and wind power stations for an additional sources of electricity in the region.

“Therefore, an important sector is the development of alternative energy sources,” he added.

Tugzhanov emphasized on the readiness of his government to assist all investors and invited Emirati businessmen to hold partnerships and enter into joint investment cooperation with Kazakh investors.