ASTANA – President Nursultan Nazarbayev launched 18 new industrial projects in eight priority fields of the economy during New Kazakhstan Industrialisation and the Results Achieved in 2015 national teleconference at the Independence Palace in Astana on Dec. 11.
“Our major goal is processing and increasing the added value. You make a great contribution. Projects implemented under the industrialisation programme target import substitution and increases in foreign investments. Two enterprises were also built with foreign capital,” President Nazarbayev said during the event.
Approximately 3.8 trillion tenge (US$11.3 billion) has been allocated for the construction of industrial facilities over the past six years. At that, the enterprises have already returned almost 8.5 trillion tenge (US$25.5 billion) in production and taxes. Four agricultural projects were launched, including enterprises for the production of fast food, a meat processing plant in Aktobe and two poultry farms. New companies in light industry and the construction industry, petrochemical industry, alternative energy and engineering started operating as well. Such companies as a diesel engine producing plant and a pharmaceutical company in the Almaty region and a sewing-machine producing plant are really important for Kazakhstan and will substitute imported goods, creating thousands of permanent jobs for Kazakh people.
Operating Officer of the Halliburton Company James Taylor said: “I am a representative of the Halliburton Company which is operating in more than 80 countries worldwide. Thanks to your policy and favourable investment climate, we got the right of subsoil use in a short period of time. Today, together with our Kazakh partners we have completed the construction of the complex,” Kazakh TV reported him as saying.
President Nazarbayev congratulated and wished success to Halliburton Company, saying “Kazakhstan, as an oil country, considers the production of barite concentrate a very important project. Moreover, it will be supplied to the Russian oil sector. It is a long-awaited facility. We have been cooperating with the Halliburton Company for a long time. Let’s work, good luck!”
Founder of Capital Project, Ltd. Maxim Bozhko is a strong supporter of the industrialisation programme, saying, “Together with German investors, we built a new meat processing plant on the basis of the poultry farm in Akmol village. At that, 400 jobs were created. The plant’s capacity is 20,000 tonnes of chilled poultry meat annually and 300 tonnes of deep-processing products per year. The project is part of the food belt of Astana and it will fill the needs of the city, as well as decrease meat imports by 15 percent.”
President Nazarbayev discussed the problem of establishing new industrial companies and their bankruptcies because of bad business. He highlighted that 95 percent of all launched companies are operating now and these companies export products to the amount of 1 trillion tenge (US$3 billion) annually. Also, President Nazarbayev called on the companies to work on the transition to a service-industrial model of the economy, attracting foreign investment and innovation and knowledge-based production. He also noted that the fact that 30 foreign companies have decided to re-invest in Kazakhstan’s economy serves as a good indicator of the state’s stability.
Besides launching different plants, President Nazarbayev commissioned the project of the Aktau Sea International Port in a northerly direction and the Aktau Sea Northern Terminal.
