Kazakhstan becomes major foreign investment destination in CIS - president

ASTANA, May 22. /TASS/. Kazakhstan has become a leader among the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in drawing direct foreign investment, President Nursultan Nazarbayev told a plenary meeting of the 8th Astana Economic Forum on Friday. "The country has become a leader in the CIS in attracting direct foreign investment. In total, more than $200 billion has been drawn to the economy. Just within 15 years a new capital, Astana, was built that has become a driver of the country’s economic growth," the president stressed. Nazarbayev said that since its independence in 1991, Kazakhstan has reduced poverty by 20-fold, from 60 percent to 2.9 percent, its GDP (gross domestic product) has grown by 24-fold and the GDP per capita has reached $13,000, compared to the level of the middle-income countries. Read more