A delegation from Switzerland arrived on a business trip to Almaty

The distinguished guests visited Almaty immediately after the capital. The composition of the foreign delegation consisted of 28 large investment firms in the sectors of finances, construction, transport, logistics, chemical industry, medicine, tourism and hotel industry, consulting services, and agriculture. The Minister of Economy and Security of the Canton of Geneva Pierre Mode headed a business mission. Entrepreneurs are mainly interested in large-scale investment projects.

As it was noted in the welcoming speech by the director of the Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Almaty Yuri Tleumuratov - an ideal city for investment. Over 25 years of independence, Kazakhstan has created a favorable business climate for investors. Republic is one of the best in the world in terms of protection of investors. Among 189 countries in the rating “Doing Business”, Kazakhstan took 25th place in protection of minority shareholders and 25th place in protection of investors from 140 countries, according to the "Report on Global Competitiveness 2015-2016".

"The main investment incentives: exemption from taxes (CIT for 10 years, the land tax for 10 years, the property tax for 8 years), investment grants (reimbursement of up to 30% of the actual costs of construction and installation works and purchase of equipment) , customs privileges (exemption from customs duties on import of technological equipment and component parts for up to 5 years, with imports of spare parts for production equipment, raw materials and (or) materials for up to 5 years depending on the investment in fixed assets). In addition, the conditions for attracting foreign labor were introduced, such as quotas and permits (until commissioning of facilities and 1 year after the commissioning of the facility). There was introduced visa-free regime for 19 countries for up to 15 calendar days from the moment of crossing the state border for the period from 16^th of July 2015 to 31^st of December 2017, including for the Swiss Confederation", - said Yuri Tleumuratov.

To create favorable conditions for attracting investments into the economy of the city of Almaty, there were defined points of economic growth, such as the establishment of the Industrial Zone in Alatau district of Almaty, where the priority sectors develop - food, light, pharmaceutical, chemical, engineering, construction, furniture. Currently, 33 projects are implemented in the industrial zone in the amount of 179.6 billion tenge with the creation of about 5000 jobs.

Since 2003 in Almaty operates the special economic zone "Park of innovative technologies". SEZ "PIT" is positioning itself as an integrated innovative hub, research and education, design and production cluster. Currently, 145 companies registered in the free economic zone. 64 companies directly operate on the territory of SEZ "PIT" (18 have manufacturing facilities and 48 lease office space), 49 companies operate on the principle of extraterritoriality, 32 companies rent space on the territory of Almaty. During the 1^st of 2016, the participants of SEZ "PIT" created 223 jobs, the total number of created  with the participants of SEZ "PIT" of 3141. During the period of operation 20, 5 billion tenge were actually invested in the park, 2.16 billion tenge for the 1st half of 2016.

Currently, Kazakhstan is one of the leaders in the region in terms of investment in the economy of foreign capital. According to UNCTAD, Kazakhstan occupies 28th place in the world in terms of net inflow of foreign direct investment, while among developing countries Kazakhstan occupies 16th place, 2nd place among the countries with economies in transition, 1st place among the landlocked countries. During the first 9 months of 2016 investments in fixed capital in Almaty amounted to 335.8 billion tenge, or 6.6% of the national volume. The share of internal investments in Almaty is 86%, 14% external.

In turn, deputy director of the Chamber of Commerce of the Canton of Geneva Syubiliya Vincent thanked everyone for the warm welcome.

"We are happy to stay on the hospitable land of Kazakhstan. The main difference between our economies is that Switzerland virtually has no natural resources. Our main wealth – is "wit", and we are ready to provide you with all our knowledge, experience and skills in the field of medicine, finance, and construction. I would also like to note that the Swiss Chamber of Commerce includes 2.5 thousand companies, and we are just like you, provide them with every support. We hope that today's meeting will help to establish long-term partnership between our countries", - said Syubiliya Vincent.

According to the Statistics Agency of Kazakhstan, Switzerland regularly ranks among the largest trade partners of Kazakhstan. From January to July 2016, bilateral trade amounted to 2,1 billion USD, of which exports - 2,09 billion, import - 58.6 million. In 2015, bilateral trade volume reached 2.78 billion USD (3.7 % of total turnover, export USD - 2.66 billion and imports - 129 thousand USD). In terms of turnover, Switzerland ranks fifth after Russia, China, Italy, the Netherlands and France. Kazakhstan supplies to Switzerland, mainly energy, precious stones and metals. Swiss imports to Kazakhstan include precision instruments and optics, watches, products of the chemical industry and pharmaceutical industry.