Speaking at the «Kazakhstan-China» Investment Forum, Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced the creation of a Kazakh-Chinese investment fund. According to Tokayev, the fund will serve as a channel for attracting financing for major projects, as Chinese companies in Kazakhstan should be not just trading partners but also long-term investors in manufacturing, infrastructure and new technologies.
According to Tokayev, there are three key areas of cooperation. The first is transportation. In this area, Kazakhstan plans to create a network of logistics hubs connecting the Chinese coast with the Caspian region. The second is industrial cooperation. Kazakhstan has already established a portfolio of 260 major joint projects worth more than $62 billion. The third area is digitalization.
Implementing such initiatives, however, requires an appropriate financial architecture. The president also emphasized the significant potential for cooperation between the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) and Hong Kong. In early September, Samruk-Kazyna became the first issuer from Central Asia and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to enter the Chinese market, issuing Panda bonds worth more than 3 billion yuan ($450 million).
According to Tokayev, Kazakhstan intends to make the entire investment cycle as short, transparent and technologically advanced as possible. The new Kazakh-Chinese investment fund will be established within Kazakh Invest, Kazakhstan’s national investment promotion agency. The fund will serve as an effective channel for attracting institutional capital, co-financing major projects and simplifying cross-border settlements. At the end of his speech, the president invited financial institutions and companies to take an active part in the initiative.
On the sidelines of the forum, Kazakh Invest signed an agreement with China’s Silk Road Finance Corporation to establish the investment fund. The two sides will jointly develop the fund’s structure and operational mechanisms, build its investment portfolio and attract institutional and private capital. The AIFC’s infrastructure and legal framework will be used to facilitate investment in priority sectors of Kazakhstan’s economy.
