Kazakhstan invites businessmen to form joint ventures

Envoy says Central Asian state offers duty relief, one-window facility

KARACHI: Kazakhstan Ambassador Barlybay Sadykov has invited the business community of Karachi to set up their business units and form joint ventures in his Central Asian state, which offers scores of opportunities including duty exemptions and one-window facility to foreign investors.

“Kazakhstan’s economy is rapidly growing and we have attracted foreign investment of billions of dollars. We have also been ranked 28th by the World Bank on the Ease of Doing Business index,” said the ambassador while speaking at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).



Although the population of Kazakhstan was estimated at 80 million, easy access was being provided to the people to Eurasia including China and Russia, he said. The European Union, the United States, Russia and China are the main trading partners of Kazakhstan.

He emphasised that Pakistani businessmen must take advantage of the unique business opportunities offered by Kazakhstan as they would not only help them to earn huge profits, but would also enhance the volume of bilateral trade between the two countries.

“We want to diversify Kazakhstan’s economy and are open for any kind of business and joint ventures. We want to transform our country into an industrial and agricultural state,” he said.

Sadykov pointed out that although Pakistan and Kazakhstan had strong cultural, political and religious relationship since long, the economic and trade ties were not up to the mark. The volume of bilateral trade was hardly $28 million.

The low trade volume between the two countries was mainly due to a lack of information about potential sectors and available opportunities, which required collective efforts by both sides to create a win-win situation for both, the ambassador said.



Speaking on the occasion, KCCI President Junaid Esmail Makda said as Pakistan had been facing energy crisis, Kazakhstan could help in dealing with the challenge. Both countries could come up with some kind of an agreement pertaining to electricity and gas supply from Kazakhstan, which had abundant natural resources including gas, uranium, precious metals and minerals.

The KCCI chief sought the ambassador’s assistance in identifying areas of cooperation and potential sectors so that the business community of Karachi could look into the possibility of introducing their products and services in the Kazakhstan market.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2019.

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