Japan to invest $200 million in Kazakhstan’s infrastructure

Japan is ready to invest $200 million in Kazakhstan’s energy, infrastructure, machinery and food industries via the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). The Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK), a subsidiary of Baiterek, has already signed a memorandum of understanding with the Japanese development institution, according to Kazakh Invest.

The document was signed by Marat Yelibayev, the CEO of DBK, and Hayashi Nobumitsu, the governor of JBIC, during the Central Asia + Japan business forum where 36 other documents related to bilateral cooperation were signed as well. The event organized by Kazakh Invest and the Japan Association for Trade with Russia & NIS (Ukraine and Mongolia included) was attended by Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov.

As a result, Kazakhstan and Japan have signed four documents on cooperation, including agreements Kazakhmys reached with Eurasian Machinery, a distributor of state-of-the-art machinery and mining equipment by Hitachi in Central Asia, and Hitachi Construction Machinery, a Japanese giant specializing in construction equipment.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Digital Development of Kazakhstan and Challenge and Lead, a Japanese IT system developer, signed a memorandum of understanding to provide training for Kazakhstani IT specialists.

Kazakh Invest also reached an arrangement with Japanese Fitech to launch local production of fireproof materials, supplying the product to domestic and foreign markets.

The Kazakh Institute of Oncology and Radiology signed a memorandum of understanding with Fujifilm, a prominent Japanese producer of photo cameras and films. The two sides aim to collaborate in developing state-of-the-art medical transportable devices for radiology, mammography and endoscopy.

In addition, Japanese companies signed twelve documents with Kyrgyzstan, two documents with Tajikistan, and three documents with Turkmenistan.

In January 2024, Minister of Trade and Integration Arman Shakkaliyev revealed that the commodity turnover between Kazakhstan and Japan reached $2.1 billion in 2023. At the same time, Japanese investments in Kazakhstan have amounted to $7.8 billion over the past 17 years. All in all, Kazakhstan plans to boost its exports to Japan in 45 categories for a total of $204 million, the minister reported at the beginning of the year.

The Japanese are not the only nation interested in investing in Kazakhstan. Recently, eight Turkish businesses expressed their intention to invest in developing agricultural projects, such as grain and bean processing, leather processing, ice cream production and local production of agricultural equipment.