“Discover Kazakhstan: Business and Investment Opportunities for Sabah” business forum was held in Sabah, bringing together officials, entrepreneurs, heads of industry federations of the state and media representatives on September 22, El.kz cites MFA.
Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Malaysia Bulat Sugurbayev emphasized the strong political, economic, cultural and humanitarian relationships between Kazakhstan and Malaysia.
“In addition to traditional ties in trade, agriculture and food supply, we see significant potential in the development of the banking sector, infrastructure, IT industry and finance,” he said.
The head of the diplomatic mission highlighted the prospect of Kazakhstan to become a transit hub of Eurasia: “Kazakhstan is located at the crossroads of the ways connecting North and South, West and East. This is a tremendous advantage, which opens up great opportunities.”
The guests of the business forum also learned about the prospect of Kazakhstan’s agro-industrial complex, which has huge sales markets, including in Malaysia. Being on the 32nd place in the global food security ranking and among the ten largest exporters of grain crops in the world, Kazakhstan has been focused on a step-by-step transition to alternative energy sources and improving energy efficiency.
Datuk Christina Liew, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, who took part on behalf of the Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajji Haji Noor, Chief Minister of Sabah, spoke about the three pillars of the state’s development, including agriculture, industry and tourism. “Sabah is open for business. I hope “Explore Kazakhstan” presentation will give a glimpse to guests and participants of that country has to offer and will pave the way for both sides to explore bilateral trade partnership,” the Minister stressed.
Datuk Liew added that Kazakhstan and Sabah have a huge potential in the field of tourism and expressed readiness to develop partnership in this direction.
Mohamed Termizi, the representative of the Malaysian trade agency “MATRADE” in Almaty, spoke about the development of bilateral trade between Kazakhstan and Malaysia, noting potential growth points.
Evelyn Tan, the head of the Malaysian company “Offshore Industries”, who completed the construction of a plant in Almaty for the production of electrical panels, shared her personal experience of investing in Kazakhstan and spoke about the peculiarities of doing business in Kazakhstan. “I believe that the market of Kazakhstan is quite capacious, and the strategic location of the country allows it to be a logistics hub of the entire region,” the investor emphasized.
Representatives of the “Kazakh Invest”, Astana International Financial Center, “Kazakh Tourism” and “BI Group” outlined about the investment climate in Kazakhstan and measures provided by the government to support foreign investors, focusing on the development prospects of various fields, including construction, infrastructure and tourism. Bayan Nishan, Director of “Kaz Capital” spoke about the investment opportunities in the field of education.