Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier took part in the Kazakh-German business forum.
At the beginning of his speech, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev thanked President Steinmeier for inviting the heads of leading German companies as part of his state visit to Kazakhstan and emphasized that Kazakhstan is Germany’s leading economic partner in Central Asia.
To date, German companies have invested almost $6 billion in our economy. It is noteworthy that about 90% of these investments are in the non-resource sector. In our country there are more than 1000 actively operating companies with German capital. Many of them are world-famous brands, others are medium-sized family businesses. Kazakhstan warmly welcomes all German companies, large or small. We value the German approach to business, based on determination, precision and responsibility. These qualities are key to success in business,” the Head of State emphasized.
As the President of Kazakhstan reported, during today’s meeting with President Steinmeier, an agreement was reached to strengthen cooperation in joint exploration and development of natural resources. According to him, this will give real content to the intergovernmental Agreement on Partnership in the raw materials, industrial and technological spheres.
In addition, the speech focused on the great prospects in the fields of transport and logistics.
Kazakhstan is strategically located in the heart of Eurasia. Our country accounts for 80% of all continental traffic between China and Europe. In our new geopolitical reality, the “Middle Corridor” is becoming increasingly significant. This is the shortest and also the most sustainable transport route from Central and East Asia to Europe. Starting in 2022, freight traffic along the Caspian Corridor to the countries of the European Union has doubled. To support growing trade between East and West, we are working to modernize our infrastructure and eliminate bottlenecks. We intend to increase the throughput capacity of Kazakh ports to 30 million tons,” said the President of Kazakhstan.
In the speech of the Head of State, renewable energy sources were also noted as one of the most promising sectors for further cooperation.
According to the President, Kazakhstan has all the prerequisites to become the world’s leading producer of green hydrogen. A $50 billion green hydrogen deal has been signed with SVEVIND Group. Hydrogen production could open the door to the production of green steel, aluminum and other metals.
In addition, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev drew attention to the importance of increasing cooperation in the field of innovation, digitalization and human capital development. In this regard, he welcomed the upcoming opening of the Kazakh-German Institute of Engineering at the Caspian State University in Aktau and the Kazakh-German Institute of Science and Technology at the East Kazakhstan Technical University, which will further improve human capital and competitiveness in our country.
During the event, Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan Marat Karabaev, Head of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection of Germany Udo Philipp also spoke.
The corresponding memorandum was signed on June 20 of this year. in Astana following the results of the Kazakh-German business forum. On the Kazakh side, the Samruk-Kazyna Invest company will take part in the joint project, and on the German side, the engineering company AMK Global GmbH will take part.
The project will allow Kazakhstan to establish waste processing, purification of harmful flue gases, neutralization of carbon dioxide and production of carbon fibers.