Kazakh President is in Finland: contracts, container transportation and 5G technologies
It should be noted that this is the second official visit to Finland by Nursultan Nazarbayev. For the first time, the President of Kazakhstan arrived in March 2009 with a state visit to this country. In general, the Head of State met five times with the leadership of Finland in the fields of multilateral events - at the St. Petersburg International Forum (2011), the 66th session of the UN General Assembly (2011), and during nuclear safety summits (2012 Seoul, 2014 The Hague, 2016 Washington).
In turn, the Finnish leaders visited Kazakhstan five times - M. Koivisto in 1992, T. Halonen in 2010 and current President S. Niinistö in April 2013, June 2015 and June 2017. On June 19-20 2017, President S. Niinistö had a working visit to Kazakhstan in order to participate in the National Day of Finland in EXPO-2017. The President was accompanied by the leaders of 73 Finnish companies that actively participated in the exhibition.
The program of the visit includes meetings at the highest level with President of Finland Sauli Niinistö, during which they will exchange views on issues of bilateral and multilateral cooperation between the two states, and will also discuss current issues on the international agenda.
Upon arrival in Helsinki, the President of Kazakhstan met with the head of the Finnish telecommunications company.
Nursultan Nazarbayev noted that the Nokia brand is widely known in the world for its achievements in the telecommunications sector, and stressed that the company has established itself in Kazakhstan as a reliable partner.
“Since 2007, Nokia has been cooperating with our country. Today, the company's turnover amounted to 20 billion dollars”, the Head of State said.
Nursultan Nazarbayev told the head of the company that Kazakhstan had set the task of increasing labor productivity through the introduction of automation, robotization and artificial intelligence in the production process, and separately focused on the implementation of the “Digital Kazakhstan” state program.
In turn, Risto Siilasmaa thanked Nursultan Nazarbayev for the opportunity to meet and expressed high interest in cooperation with Kazakhstani companies.
“You are a very famous person in the world, one of the few among heads of state who understands the importance of technological development. I know that you pay great attention to digital technologies”, R. Siilasmaa.
At the end of the meeting, the sides discussed the introduction of new communication technologies, including the 5G standard, when implementing projects on the digitization of economic sectors and the development of the innovation ecosystem.
Looking back, on June 28, 2018 in Shanghai, Kazakhtelecom JSC and Nokia signed a Memorandum on Cooperation. Testing of the new communication format will begin in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Also on the first day of his visit, Nursultan Nazarbayev met with representatives of Finnish business, having noted that Finland is one of the most important trade and economic partners of Kazakhstan, and stressed that relations between the two countries are based on friendship and mutual trust.
“Over the years of independence, Finland has invested more than 300 million dollars in our country. About 100 enterprises with Finnish capital participation in various spheres are registered in Kazakhstan”, Nursultan Nazarbayev said.
The Head of State said that Kazakhstan opens up new opportunities for profitable business, and indicated that the purpose of the meeting is to intensify economic relations and search for new business partners.
“National companies Kazakh Invest and Kazakh Export were created for the purpose of effective interaction with investors and business. The Council of Foreign Investors works under the President. When implementing investment projects in such priority sectors as metallurgy, oil refining, engineering, chemistry, food production, exemption from corporate, land and property taxes is provided, the procedure for obtaining licenses and entering into contracts for subsoil use is simplified. Attracting foreign labor is also carried out without quotas and permits”, the President of Kazakhstan stated.
Nursultan Nazarbayev told the businessmen about the large-scale privatization carried out in Kazakhstan and the presence of demand from foreign investors, including Finnish investors.
“It is gratifying that we opened a new railway route from Finland to China through Kazakhstan. Now container transportation in this direction and back takes four times less time than shipping by sea”, the Head of State said.
It should be noted that container transportations on the route Kouvola (Finland) - Buslovskaya (Russia) - Altynkol (Kazakhstan) - Xi'an (China) has been carried out since November 2017.
The President of Kazakhstan highlighted the issues of state support for agricultural producers and invited Finnish companies to actively participate in the implementation of projects in the agro-industrial complex.
“Kazakhstan has embarked on an accelerated modernization of the economy, introduction of new technologies and innovations. “Digital Kazakhstan” special state program is implemented. Taking into account the experience of Finnish companies in this field, this could be a promising field for our cooperation”, Nursultan Nazarbayev said.
In addition, the Head of State spoke about the benefits of the Astana International Financial Center, the high-tech stock exchange established, and stressed that the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the US NASDAQ were partners in the implementation of this project.
“The AIFC has all the opportunities to become a regional center for the development of “green”, Islamic and innovative financial instruments. I invite Finnish companies to take part in its work”, the President of Kazakhstan called.
Trade and economic relations
Trade and economic cooperation is developing dynamically and effectively between Kazakhstan and Finland. This is evidenced by some numbers. Thus, in January-July 2018, the trade turnover between the countries amounted to 160 million dollars. In 2017 - 307.9 million dollars, in 2016 - 341.9 million dollars, in 2015 - 467.1 million dollars. In 2014, the indicator surpassed 1.1 billion dollars.
Over the past 13 years (the period from 2005 to 1 quarter of 2018), the gross inflow of direct investment from Finland to Kazakhstan amounted to 334.0 million dollars. The gross outflow of direct investment from Kazakhstan to Finland was 0.5 million dollars.
About 100 joint ventures are registered in Kazakhstan in such sectors of the economy as chemical, light industry, mining and construction industry, mechanical engineering, production of building materials, production of high-tech paint.
Among the implemented projects:
1. "TIkkurila" - a high-tech plant for the production of water-based paints and varnishes launched in April 2015 near Almaty. The plant capacity is more than 2.5 million liters per year. Workplaces - 47 people.
2. Lindström is an international company operating in 24 countries, with an annual turnover of 358 million euros. Since 2013 Lindström operates in Kazakhstan. Income in 2017 - 81 million tenge. Lindström produces various uniforms for any work activity.
3. “Outotec” - “Altyntau Kokshetau” JSC - a mining and processing plant located in Akmola region, on the basis of the Vasilkovo gold deposit, develops the largest gold deposit in Kazakhstan - Vasilkovskoye, whose reserves are about 360 tons.
4. “Vaisala Group” - “Vaisala Group” together with “Kazgidromet” (cooperation since 2005) supplies automatic sensors for the quality of atmospheric air “AQT-420” (measurement of concentrations in the automatic mode of pollutants).
5. “Lammin” - a subsidiary of the “General Finland” Association - one of the European leaders in the production of environmentally friendly and energy-efficient windows and doors that are adapted to the climatic conditions of Kazakhstan, because the Finnish climate is also extreme, like in Kazakhstan. At the end of 2017, a plant for the production of Finnish wooden windows and doors was launched, a joint project of Glass-Service LLP and General Finland company. In 2016, Steklo-Service LLP and General Finland signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation in the amount of 1 billion tenge to promote further development and implementation of mutual measures to increase the business potential of West Kazakhstan region and Finland.
At the same time, Kazakhstani-Finnish cooperation in the field of green economy is actively developing. In 2013, the Declaration on Partnership in the Development of a Green Economy and Modernization between Kazakhstan and Finland was signed. In 2014, Finland signed the Charter on the Green Bridge Partnership Program. In addition, in 2017, the EBRD allocated 1 million euros for the implementation of projects in Kazakhstan in the field of "green" financing.
In addition, the Finnish business hub assists in the active development of cooperation between Finland and West Kazakhstan and North Kazakhstan regions. On April 26-27, 2018, Governor of West Kazakhstan region, A. Kulginov, and on 25-27 June, 2018, Mayor of Uralsk, M. Mukayev, visited Helsinki. During the negotiations, agreements were reached on the implementation of three projects in West Kazakhstan region: the introduction of the Finnish SMW management system, a plant for the production of energy-efficient windows and doors in Uralsk, the use of BIM technologies in 3D for the design of production planning, education and health care.
Primary and secondary education. The Kazakhstan-Finnish Education and Innovation Group (Consortium) is the key mechanism for the development of this vector of cooperation. It includes representatives of the Universities of Applied Sciences Hämeenlinna, Lahti, Jyväskylä and the Tampere Educational Center.
The consortium takes an active part in the implementation of the State program for the development of healthcare in Kazakhstan “Densaulyk” for 2016-2019.
A Roadmap for the modernization of the system of nursing education in Kazakhstan for 2016-2019 has been developed. It provides for the reorganization of 10 Kazakhstan medical colleges into higher medical colleges.
An integrated program of applied baccalaureate in the specialty “Nursing” has been adopted. Memoranda of understanding and strategic partnership for the development of health and nursing were signed.
From 2012 to 2016 in the framework of the projects of the Consortium, about 1000 representatives of middle and junior medical staff of Kazakhstan completed refresher courses in Finland. In addition, more than 300 teachers became participants in special programs for principals, teachers, and representatives of regional educational institutions.
Photo by Bauyrzhan Zhuasbayev
