The official visit of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to the Federal Republic of Germany opened with a meeting with the heads of leading business associations and financial institutions.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev discussed with the participants prospects for combining German financial resources, expertise and risk-management instruments with Kazakhstan’s resource and institutional potential.
The President stated Kazakhstan’s aspiration to become a reliable partner for Germany in Central Asia and across the Eurasian space.
“I want to underscore that Germany is being deeply respected by my people and enjoy excellent record in Kazakhstan. The discipline of your banking sector, engineering excellence and resilience of the Mittelstand are precisely what we seek to build into our own economy as we pursue modernization and technological transformation. Germany is one of our key partners in Europe. Kazakhstan-Germany cooperation is an integral part of Kazakhstan’s engagement with the European Union, our largest trade and investment partner. We have come a long way together, yet we are still far from delivering the full potential of our economic engagement. Kazakhstan is now ready to take it to a qualitatively new level,” the President said.
The President informed the participants that S&P had recently upgraded Kazakhstan’s sovereign credit rating to BBB with a “stable” outlook. Fitch assigns the same level. According to the President, over the past decade Kazakhstan has also developed one of the most advanced digital and financial ecosystems in the region.
"Development institutions play active role in financing our economy. Last year, their total volume of support stood at 20 billion US dollars. Over the years, the Development Bank of Kazakhstan has financed key industrial, energy and transport infrastructure projects in Kazakhstan with the support of German financial institutions, raising more than 1.2 billion dollars from Deutsche Bank, Helaba, LBBW, Commerzbank, KfW and others,” the Head of State emphasized.
Another priority highlighted in the President’s speech was the establishment of a Kazakhstan-Germany Digital Innovation and AI Partnership.
“We invite German companies to bring their strengths in data-centre technologies, energy efficiency, cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity. Another promising area is fintech. Kazakhstan’s advanced digital financial ecosystem allows payment and tokenization solutions to be developed at home and then scaled across the region,” the Head of State said.
According to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, another area of cooperation is the development of Alatau City, which is intended to become a “gateway” for broader participation of the German financial sector in Kazakhstan’s economy.
“This project is the first smart city in Central Asia designed from the outset for the digital age. It can thus become a practical bridge between German institutional capital and Kazakhstan’s investment pipeline. I am confident that Alatau City will become a new destination for talent, technology and business across Eurasia,” the President said.
Read more: https://www.akorda.kz/en/president-meets-with-heads-of-german-business-associations-and-financial-institutions-2985022