A Council of investors was created in NKR

The first meeting of the Council was attended by Akim of /NKR Erik Sultanov, Deputy Minister for Investment and Development of RK Rakhim Oshakbayev, Vice Minister of Agriculture Ermek Kosherbaev, Deputy Chairman of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan "Atameken" Nurzhan Altaev, the Chairman of the Board of JSC " Entrepreneurship Development Fund "Damu" Lyazzat Ibragimova, Vice-President of JSC "NC" KTZH" Bauyrzhan Urynbasarov, Senior Banker of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Kazakhstan Anton Dan Chin Yu, CEO of “Wuhan Shi Lin Fuxing Technology & Development Co. Ltd” (China) Zhang Shi Gan, director of the Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Florence (Italy) Armando Rizalitti, Director of business development “General Finland Coop” (Finland) Culver Capper, Director General of LLP “Iluka Exploration Kazakhstan” (Australia) Alison Morley, CEO of LLP "Financial Group" Kazakh INVEST "(Russia) Vladimir Kang et al.

It should be noted that the Council of investors of NKR was created to provide a direct dialogue between the business community and investors in the region to address effectively issues of concern to their planned investment activity and to improve the investment climate in the region. Its main objectives are to develop recommendations and proposals for the development of key aspects of the investment policy and economic development of the region.

Opening the meeting of the Council, its Chairman, akim of the oblast Erik Sultanov noted that special attention is attached to the issue of attraction of investments to Kazakhstan. The -Kazakhstan region is not an exception. Only at the end of last year, the economy of the region attracted 154.5 billion tenge of investments. However, as it was noted later in his speech by the deputy akim of the region Mukhtar Mankeev, the pace of growth of the NKR is ranked 1st among the regions of the republic. In addition, the largest part of the investment is aimed at agribusiness - is 44, 2 bln., or 29% of the total sum of all injections.

"Over the past year more than 25 different delegations have visited our region – both the country of near and far abroad. As a result of cooperation with our partners, we have ensured the growth of foreign investment to more than 60%", - said deputy akim of NKR Mukhtar Mankeev, listing the main advantages of the region for investors.

He also stressed that North Kazakhstan region is mostly an agricultural region, which annually produces about one-third of cultivated crops in the country. The crop production takes more than 70% in the structure of agricultural production, 30% accounts for livestock breeding.

"Agricultural lands account for more than 7 million hectares, including 4.8 million hectares of arable land. In the farms of the region where the full range of agrotechnological activities is applied, the yield of cereal crops is 30-35 centners / hectare, oil crops 15-20 centners / hectare. For the development of plant growing industry the state provides subsidies to support the purchase of seeds for the seed of the first, second, third reproduction and first-generation hybrids, both in Kazakhstan and abroad. At present, day, according to the forecast data in the field, there were released about 700 thousand hectares of land, including arable land - 177.6 thousand hectares. This is a fairly large reserve, which can be advantageously used by our investors. For example, today investors from Italy, which entered the composition of our Council, purchased more than 2 million hectares of agricultural land for the further continuation of crop production", - continued M. Mankeev.

He noted that another promising direction for attraction of foreign investment in the /NKR is investment in agricultural processing, he highlighted three major projects planned to be implemented in the region. The first is the construction of the plant for the processing of oilseed crop with the capacity of 330 thousand tonnes per year of a group of companies "EFKO" worth 23 billion tenge. The second project is construction of a plant for the production of vegetable oil by LLP "IES - MSE", which will be located in Petropavlovsk, worth 29 billion tenge. Such a plant can process up to 500 thousand tons of oilseeds in a year. The third project is a plant for deep processing of grain with the capacity of 250 thousand tons per year, worth 38 billion tenge - SE "Zhannur Astana", which will appear in the district of G.Musrepov. All three projects will be included in the map of the processing of agricultural products in the years 2016-2020, within which is scheduled implementation of 60 projects worth 138.5 billion tenge.

Deputy Minister for Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan Rakhim Oshakbayev is sure of the fact that the North-Kazakhstan region has a high potential for development, including through the attraction of foreign investment.

"We all see what is happening in the world markets - totally unpredictable drop in prices for oil and metals. All these, of course, affects very much such countries as Kazakhstan, in which exports, unfortunately, is not more than 30%. We see a fall in world stock markets, which respond to a global indicator, and overall, there is reason to believe that we are witnessing the fact that an era based on hydrocarbons, minerals ends. Despite the negative effects that happen with our economy, at first glance, however, it bears very serious possibilities. And I think that the so-called “The next big temple" is the next big thing after oil in Kazakhstan, it is certainly agriculture, agro-processing and food production. In this respect, the North-Kazakhstan region as a key region of Kazakhstan, which produces agricultural products, looks completely in a different light. In addition, it was noted that the area is at the border, it has a common market and the opportunities that are created today by the Eurasian integration, the Eurasian Economic Union also predetermine increase of the investment attractiveness of the region", - said Rakhim Oshakbayev.

At the end of the meeting of the Council of the investors there have been concluded memoranda between the company "Grand Story Astana" and Akimat of Petropavlovsk on the allocation of 123 hectares of land; between the company "Il Trebbiollo" and Akimat of Kyzylzhar district; between JSC "EDF" Damu "and Akimat of NKR on the project "Business in every village"; between JSC "Syrymbet" and "Samruk-Kazyna Invest"; between the company "Xi'an AiJu Grain & Oil Industry Group Co., Ltd" and Akimat of NKR on the allocation of 28 hectares of land; between the company "General Finland Coop" and Akimat of NKR on the development of feasibility studies in the field of agriculture and the project of a fish farm and processing of fish.

Further members of the Council of investors participated in business negotiations in the format "b2b", and got acquainted with the work of enterprises SE "Zenchenko and Company", JSC "Munaymash" and JSC "Sultan".