On July 18-21, Kazakh Minister of National Economy and the Governor of the World Bank from Kazakhstan Alibek Kuantyrov paid a working visit to Washington, during which he held meetings with the heads of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, U.S. government and the US Chamber of Commerce, DKNews.kz reports.
The meetings allowed to substantively discuss a wide range of issues of bilateral and multilateral economic cooperation.
During the talks, Minister Kuantyrov briefed the counterparts on the implementation of political and economic reforms of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, aimed at further sustainable development of the economy and improving the welfare of the people. The Kazakh Minister also spoke about the plans of the Government of Kazakhstan to develop alternative trade routes and expand mutual cooperation aimed at developing the infrastructure of Kazakhstan and the Central Asian region.
In the negotiations with the World Bank’s Managing Director for Operations Anna Bjerde and Director of Strategy and Operations for the Europe and Central Asia region Carolina Sánchez-Páramo, the parties highly valued the fruitful cooperation between Kazakhstan and the WB, the successful implementation of comprehensive projects aimed at promoting the dynamic socio-economic development of Kazakhstan.
In her turn, Director Bjerde expressed the WB's interest in developing the Trans-Caspian international transport route, creating an "eco friendly" infrastructure and providing the necessary funding, as well as consulting services.
It is also important to emphasize that IMF Deputy Managing Director Bo Li welcomed the measures taken to ensure macroeconomic stability in Kazakhstan.
As part of a round table with members of the Kazakh-American Business Council, the National Economy Minister provided detailed information about the fiscal policy and reforms being carried out in the country to improve the business climate of Kazakhstan, and also emphasized Kazakhstan’s fruitful cooperation with most major US companies, whose investments traditionally grow year to year.
In 2022, US gross FDI inflows to Kazakhstan increased by 82% to $5.1 billion.
During the meeting with Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch, the sides discussed his recent visit to take part in the Central Asia TIFA meeting, as well as further strengthening of cooperation within the TIFA Council Working Groups.
