Kazakhstan Leaders Invite Malaysian Investors to Participate in Development Plans

By Santhia Panjanadan ASTANA (Kazakhstan) May 24 (Bernama) -- Kazakhstan's leaders have invited Malaysian investors to set up joint ventures, subsidiaries and enterprises that would see further economic integration in their country, particularly in the areas of technology, as well as innovations and skills talents from Malaysia to realise their aggressive development goals. "We are looking for transfer of technology and expertise, know-how not only along financial resources but mostly on technological (assistance) side from Malaysian IT based companies. We are looking forward to cooperate in the field of innovation and in terms of supply and services," Zhanar Aitzhanova, Economic Integration Affairs Minister of Kazakhstan said. She said the prospectives were great in terms of strengthening cooperation between the two nations, against the backdrop of strong support expressed by the Malaysian government for Kazakhstan's integration into the World Trade Organization. The minister spoke to Bernama at the sideline of the three-day Fifth Astana Economic Forum which ended here on Thursday. Kazakhstan, a rapidly developing emerging-market country and an active member of the integration processes in the Euroasia area holds continuous annual forums in Astana, demonstrating its keen interest for cooperation with global players. The landlocked country has outlined concrete steps towards improving its investment attractiveness while the availability of abundant natural resources including minerals and a favourable geopolitical position has made Kazakhstan a strong emerging Central Asia market. Towards this, the country has been looking at countries with many experiences with the view for a sustainable growth in the uncertain global economic environment. "Therefore, we are interested to look at the experience of Malaysian companies as well as cooperation in all aspects, namely JV or establishment of branches or subsidiaries of Malaysian companies in Kazakhstan. "Again, we are not only looking for additional financial inflow but mostly on technology transfer and knowledge transfer," she added. Meanwhile, Kanysh Tuleushin, Vice Minister of Industry and New Technologies said it was vital for Kazakhstan to diverse its economy for new range of income. Without innovation and technology transfer it would be difficult to implement any plans given the height the country is moving towards, he said. "We are exporting oil and gas mostly, so it’s a big issue for us to diverse to make more money. We have ready capacity in terms of research and developments. "We know very well the experience of Malaysia....we know the story of Dr Mahathir Mohamed (former prime minister of Malaysia), we know Cyberjaya, Iskandar (Malaysia)...and all the economic zones, technology transfer parks and we want to do something like that. "We are developing a park of innovation technologies in the South of Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev University and few more projects which are national level and in order to fulfill these projects we need technology, transfer of technology and share of knowledge," he explained. The minister said areas of priority for the republic in new technology would include oil and gas, ICT and building machineries. Therefore, the opportunities are wide for Malaysian companies in Kazakhstan. The most in demand would be Malaysia's management people, he said. "I know there’s very good management skills there that could develop and strategise," he added. --BERNAMA