The business delegation of the Kyrgyz Republic, which includes more than 20 heads of major financial companies and business support institutions visited Astana International Financial Centre (hereinafter – AIFC) in order to implement previously reached agreements between the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and the President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov on the use of the International Financial Centre “Astana”.

During the visit, Cooperation agreements on the use of the AIFC platform were signed between the AIFC and the Union of Banks of Kyrgyzstan, the American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the International Business Council, the Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund for attracting investment and developing capital markets of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. There were also reached Agreements on the development of securities and venture capital markets, innovation, digitalization, and e-commerce. The Parties intend to pay special attention to work on attracting investment in promising projects, including environmental and social, aimed at the development of innovative and financial ideas and startups through the AIFC platform.

In addition, the first-round financing agreement for 1 million US dollars was signed between MOST Ventures -the first Kazakh venture capital company, received an AIFC license and Kyrgyz company Namba Group -a member of AIFC Tech Hub.

The Kyrgyz delegation was apprised with the work of the AIFC Court and the International Arbitration Centre, the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA), the Hub for Islamic Finance and Business, the AIFC Green Finance Centre, the Expat Centre, the Astana International Exchange (AIX), the Bureau for Continuing Professional Development (BCPD Ltd.) and the AIFC Tech Hub.

Earlier, the AIFC delegation visited Bishkek city to share about the financial market and research the needs for financial and investment products and services, as well as to present the advantages of AIFC. During the visit, there were held meetings with representatives of public and private structures, as a result of which agreement on cooperation was reached between the AIFC Authority and the Ministry of Investment of the Kyrgyz Republic, as well as agreement on cooperation with Optima Bank regarding the implementation of joint projects aimed at attracting investments, developing securities markets, expanding opportunities for venture capital, green and Islamic financing and international certification for human resource development.

Reference:

Astana International Financial Centre was established on the initiative of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev as part of the National Plan “100 steps to implement five institutional reforms”. On July 2, 2020, as part of the meeting of the AIFC Management Council, the Center’s Development Strategy was adopted until 2025. According to it, the vision of the AIFC is to become a leading international financial centre in the region, including Central Asia, the Caucasus, the EAEU countries, Western China, Mongolia and Eastern Europe.

The mission of AIFC is to promote the sustainable long-term development of the region. As the Head of State noted, K.Tokayev, “The AIFC with its unique capabilities can act as a universal platform connecting the countries of the region.” The strategic directions of the AIFC’s sustainable development include the development of a closed-cycle economy, financial technologies and a “digital financial center”. https://aifc.kz/