Tukib magazine covered the KIDF projects in their publication.

 

The Republic of Kazakhstan has enormous opportunities for attracting foreign investment due to its strategic location, as well as its economic and resource potential. Recognizing this, the Government of Kazakhstan pays special attention and undertakes extensive work to maintain and increase the inflow of foreign direct investment into the country. One of these measures was the establishment in 2019 of the Kazakhstan Investment Development Fund (KIDF) and its Management Company (hereinafter jointly - KIDF).

KIDF was established to accelerate the inflow of foreign investment into Kazakhstan by co-investing with major industry players and institutional investors, with the goal of ensuring the country's economic development through the inflow of technology, management skills, and qualified personnel. Both KIDF and all of its joint ventures established with foreign investors are registered and operate under the jurisdiction of the Astana International Financial Center, which is based on the principles of English law. This circumstance facilitates relations with foreign partners thanks to the "familiar" English law, the presence of an independent court, and favorable taxation.

Since its establishment, KIDF in collaboration with its Turkish partners has launched the anchor tourist projects Rixos Water World Aktau and Tethys Theme Park in Aktau, as well as the Karavan Saray complex in Turkestan.

As a result, a new tourist destination was established practically "from scratch" in Aktau. Within two years, the first five-star "all-inclusive" hotel in Kazakhstan with 500 rooms with the water park was launched on the Caspian coast, as well as a world-class Theme Park with 16 dry and 17 water attractions for children and adults, and a dining area with cafes and restaurants.

Owing to Rixos Water World Aktau and the Theme Park around 2,000 direct and indirect jobs were created. Since the opening of Rixos Water World Aktau hotel in 2020, over 274 thousand beds per day have been sold, and the Theme Park has been visited by more than 270 thousand people since its launch in 2021. Despite the fact that Aktau's tourist zone is very popular among both domestic and foreign tourists, and has established itself as one of the top destinations, the region's potential in attracting tourist traffic is a multiple of its current indicators.

As part of the development of the country's new tourist destination in Aktau, the construction of Retail Zone is being completed, which will house more than 100 stores, including international brands, restaurants, and other business facilities, as well as the region's first golf club. In addition, the construction of a five-star Fairmont hotel, that will be managed by an international operator, is underway, which will also increase the area's attractiveness for foreign tourists.

The unique for Kazakhstan project of the Multifunctional complex Karavan Saray, which is an entire tourist district in Turkestan, was launched in May 2021 and currently includes two premium hotels, a shopping center, a family entertainment center, and the "Flying Theater," which broadcasts films in 8D format. Since its opening, the complex has seen over 250,000 visitors. About 1 thousand jobs were created.

Thus, through the implemented projects, KIDF together with foreign investors created approximately 4 thousand jobs and ensured the payment of more than 7.1 billion tenge in taxes (since the launch of facilities). It is expected that after the commissioning of all current projects, the number of jobs will increase to 11,000, and tax revenues will exceed 10 billion tenge per year.

One of the primary tasks of KIDF is to provide comprehensive administrative and operational support to foreign partners investing in Kazakhstan through interaction with government agencies and financial institutions on all initiatives and problematic issues regarding projects in Kazakhstan. For example, in 2022, the Government of Kazakhstan introduced a visa-free regime (for 14 days) for citizens of Iran, China, and India in order to support newly created tourist zones and increase tourist activity. In the case of attracting 350 thousand foreign tourists (mainly from Russia and Iran), the inflow of foreign capital will amount to 525 million US dollars or 240 billion tenge (350 thousand people per year with an average stay of 5 days per trip and with expenses of 300 US Dollars per day). Given the multiplier effect (in terms of re-use of funds in the economic turnover, with a coefficient of 5x), the total contribution to the economy could be up to 2.6 billion US dollars (up to 1.2 trillion tenge). It should be noted that the indicated potential inflow of foreign investment in Kazakhstan is planned through the implementation of projects in the non-resource sector in western Kazakhstan, without the need to sell any resources, oil, gas, etc. At the same time, jobs will be primarily available to the region’s young people.

Given that these projects provide for the creation of new tourist destinations, investments in them are of a long-term nature, the state, along with foreign partners, acted as their investors.

In addition to these projects, through interaction with NC Kazakh Invest JSC, KIDF is looking for and considering new investment opportunities with foreign partners.

Along with this, negotiations are held on the implementation of a number of climate projects that will introduce a system of carbon regulation in Kazakhstan and ensure access to the international carbon market. Furthermore, together with Masdar (UAE), one of the world's leading developers of renewable energy sources, KIDF is implementing project to build a wind power plant with a capacity of up to 1 GW in Kazakhstan. Only the first phase of the 500 MW project is expected to provide electricity to at least 500,000 homes and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.1 million tons per year. Taken together, the implementation of these areas and projects will ensure the achievement of targets and obligations of Kazakhstan under the Paris Agreement and carbon neutrality by 2060 (including a 15% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030), and attracting additional investment and technology in a strategically important industry.

Thus, state support measures form the basis for the intensive development of non-resource sectors of the economy in order to further diversify it. The mechanism of co-investment with foreign partners plays a significant role in the implementation of the state's investment strategy, contributing to both the creation of new and the development of existing industries, increasing the number of jobs, particularly among young people, and bringing in new technologies.

For detailed information about KIDF projects in the Journal follow the link: TUKIB 2023 - №15

About TUKIB

TUKIB - Association of Turkish and Kazakh Businessmen The foundation of the Association of Turkish and Kazakh Businessmen (“TUKIB”) was laid at the beginning of 2016, in the year of the 25th anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the establishment of diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Turkey.

About KIDF

“Kazakhstan Investment Development Fund (KIDF) Management Company” Ltd. is a management company of a state direct investment fund registered at the Astana International Financial Center, which is governed by the principles of English law. KIDF was established to facilitate investments in the development of priority sectors of the Republic of Kazakhstan on equity co-investment principles with foreign investors.

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