New opportunities for the Silk Road: Kazakhstan occupies a unique geo-economic position in connecting Asia with Europe

The office of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) was opened in Almaty. The vice-chairman of the HKTDC Raymond Ip and the business delegation, represented by the leaders of the 70 largest transport, construction, investment, commercial and financial corporations of the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong took part in the opening of the representative office in Kazakhstan.

From the NCE RK "Atameken" Acting Deputy Chairman of the Board Dinmukhamed Absattarov appeared. In his speech, he briefly dwelled on the main results of the work of the National Chamber for five years, separately noted tools for supporting domestic entrepreneurs, protecting business rights, optimizing the regulatory sphere, as well as the benefits of service support for the business with specific indicative data.

"Every year, the mechanisms of microcrediting of the private sector are being expanded, mass training in the basics of entrepreneurship is carried out. Particular emphasis is placed on the development of manufacturing industries. The NCE offers a tool to support competitive business at the expense of long-term governmental orders in exchange for localization of production," - Dinmukhamed Absattarov said.

According to the Deputy Chairman of the NCE Board, wide opportunities arise for foreign investors in the Republic of Kazakhstan in connection with the membership of Kazakhstan in a single customs and economic space with the five EAEU states. The results of the certification carried out revealed a tremendous potential for replacing imported products both in Kazakhstan and in partner countries. Only in 8 branches of manufacturing industry the imports of members of the "Eurasian Five" reach 270 billion dollars, and 27 billion dollars of Kazakhstan. At the same time, taking into account the average load of domestic companies at the level of 57%, the production growth corridor is significant.

The Chamber urged the Chinese side to start working together to create the 8th trade and logistics hub in the world, after Hong Kong. There are all transport and geo-economic preconditions for this.

"Kazakhstan is at the center of the new Silk Road connecting Asia and Europe. In the near future, the three economic blocs will form the world economy - North America, Asia and Europe. By 2020, according to expert estimates, the volume of transit through Kazakhstan is expected to increase to 36 million tons, with the subsequent increase to 50 million tons annually. Trade between the EU and the PRC in the next two years should exceed 800 billion dollars," - a representative of the Board of the NCE stated.

"Atameken" focused the attention of the foreign delegation on the fact that Kazakhstan is at the center of that part of the world that controls almost two thirds of the world's GDP. The population of the EAEU countries exceeds 180 million people, the Central Asian states - 50 million, and the human population of only Western China is 300 million. In this macroregion, the transport and trade opportunities of the southern capital of Kazakhstan, its geostrategic location and historically established trade channels represent irreversible advantages for transformation of Almaty city to the regional center of international trade into the near future.

n turn, the deputy chairman of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council Raymond Ip fully supported this proposal.

He added that similar to the International Financial Center (AIFC) operating in Astana, the principles of English law and the Anglo-Saxon system of protection of subjects (similar to the special autonomous region of Hong Kong) can be introduced in the jurisdiction of the trans-state commercial hub in Almaty.

Deputy Chairman of the Council of Businesswomen of Almaty, adviser to the Chairman of the Foreign Trade Chamber of Kazakhstan Akerkin Eraliyeva was appointed the head of the HKTDC representative office in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. The office will be located on the site of the Chamber of Entrepreneurs in Almaty.  

Note:

The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is an official body established in 1966 by a decree of the Government of the People's Republic of China. It is a foreign trade organization that promotes trade companies, commodity producers and service providers on the world stage. The global network of HKTDC consists of more than 40 offices around the world where they offer a wide range of services to promote foreign trade and promote Hong Kong as a platform for doing business with China and Asia.

As part of the activities of the Central Asian representative office, in August the Kazakhstan pavilion and participation of domestic entrepreneurs at the international exhibition FoodExpo in Hong Kong, the HongKong Fashion Exhibition of light industry were organized. In October, it is planned to organize the Kazakhstan delegation to the exhibitions ElectronicsAsia (electronics) and LightExpo (lighting devices), EcoAsiaExpoAsia ("green" technologies).