Business Opportunities of Kazakhstan Were Presented to Austrian Investors
The 11th meeting of the Austrian-Kazakh Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Agricultural, Environmental, Industrial, Technical, and Technological Cooperation took place in Graz, Austria, within the framework of which the Kazakh-Austrian Business Forum was held.
A Kazakh delegation led by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Roman Vassilenko arrived in Graz to participate in these events.
In accordance with the agenda of the 11th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission, opinions were exchanged on the current economic situation in Kazakhstan and Austria and measures taken by the governments of both countries to develop their economies.
During the meeting, an Agreement on Cooperation between the Kazakh Institute of Standardization and Metrology and "Austrian Standards" was signed. At the end of the event, the parties signed the final Protocol.
The Austrian-Kazakh Business Forum was attended by the leaders of more than 30 large companies in Austria, including: Aichelin Holding GmbH, AKRAS Flavours GmbH, Alpina BIO GmbH, AnnaHolz GmbH, ARGE Plattform Automatisierungstechnik Steiermark, AVK GmbH, AVL List GmbH, Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Wirtschaft (BMAW), ComFin Software GmbH, and others.
Welcome speeches were delivered by Karl-Heinz Dernoscheg, Director of the Styrian Economic Chamber, Florian Frauscher, General Director of Economic Affairs, Innovation, and International Policy of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Economics of the Republic of Austria, Manfred Kainz, Head of the Foreign Economic Department of Styria, and Roman Vassilenko, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
In his welcome speech, Roman Vassilenko noted that Kazakhstan is interested in intensifying bilateral trade, economic, and investment cooperation between our countries.
“It should be noted that at the initiative of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the Government of Kazakhstan is carrying out large-scale economic reforms aimed at demonopolizing and reducing the state's share in the country's economy. For example, a new Tax Code has been adopted, as well as a number of other regulatory norms aimed at reducing bureaucracy in business relations with government agencies. According to our data, about 130 companies with Austrian capital are already operating in Kazakhstan,” emphasized the deputy minister.
The Austrian side showed particular interest in the measures taken by the Government of Kazakhstan to diversify the economy and increase investment attractiveness. Confirming their interest in deepening mutually beneficial cooperation, the parties discussed prospects for further cooperation in such areas as energy, transportation, agriculture, healthcare, tourism, and digitalization.
Regional Manager for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at "Advantage Austria," Kozima Steiner, delivered a report on the topic of "Bilateral Economic Relations and Business Opportunities for Austrian Companies." Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Investments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Presentation Erlan Zeyneshev, spoke about investment opportunities in Kazakhstan. In addition, speakers from the Kazakh delegation also presented opportunities in the engineering and agricultural sectors, as well as prospects for the mobility and automation cluster.
As a result of the Business Forum, two Memoranda of Understanding and Cooperation were signed between Lasselsberger GmbH and KAZAKH INVEST as well as between Herz Armaturen and DMK Kazakhstan.
Concluding the event, the Kazakh delegation invited Austrian companies to consider opportunities for localizing their production in promising sectors of the Kazakh economy.
