Kazakh Head of State met with US business leaders
The meeting with the heads of the large U.S. companies has closed the first day of the official programme of the Kazakh Head of State’s visit to New York, Strategy2050.kz informs with reference to the Akorda press service.
In his speech, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev conveyed congratulatory words to the members of the Kazakhstan-U.S. Business Association on the 20 years of its operation and expressed gratitude for the event.
The Kazakh President paid attention of the American businessmen to the fact that the trade and economic and investment cooperation among the two States has strengthened since the signing of the Joint Statement on an extended strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and the USA following Nursultan Nazarbayev’s visit to the USA earlier this year.
He went on to say that the USA is one of the largest investors of Kazakhstan with $45 billion U.S. investments. More than 500 U.S. companies operate throughout Kazakhstan.
“In 2018 U.S. direct investments into Kazakhstan peaked at $5.3 billion, while mutual trade turnover reached $2.8 billion”, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.
Speaking of the economic opportunities of Kazakhstan, the President emphasized the three economic drivers of the country: they are a favorable investment climate, market and communications development, human capital promotion.
He also informed the American partners that the Kazakh Government looks forward to continuing the investment climate through ensuring the rule of law, the sanctity of contracts and the protection of intellectual property. According to him, the main task in the work with investors is to retain stability and predictability.
During his speech, Kazakhstan’s potential in energy, agriculture, finance and human capital was marked, with a special focus on the transport and logistics capabilities of the country.
“Kazakhstan is an important transport hub connecting East and West. Over 70% of the transcontinental routes pass through Kazakhstan”, the President said.
At the end of the meeting Kassym-Jomart Tokayev promised the American business circles’ representatives to make every effort to expand the economic partnership between Kazakhstan and the USA in his capacity as President.
On the same day the Head of State held meetings with the heads of some big international companies.
While meeting with Ben van Beurden, Chief Executive, Royal Dutch Shell, the Kazakh President discussed the cooperation in oil and gas projects’ implementation.
Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase and the Kazakh Head of State touched on the interaction concerning financial institutions.
During the talks with Steve Stouffer, president at Tyson Fresh Meats, and Stephen Kaniewski, group president of Valmont Industries, the implementation of investment projects in agriculture came under discussion.
The Kazakh President also met with the top leaderships of Plug`n Play, 500 Startups, Amazon Web Services, where the issues of cooperation in startup projects, development of e-commerce were discussed.
