UAE and Kazakhstan launch trade investment platform

Wam

• $1bn trade planned
• ADQ and QIC collaborate
• Opportunities from agriculture to Al

The UAE and Kazakhstan have announced the launch of a new investment vehicle focused on high-growth sectors.

The countries are planning $1 billion in annual bilateral trade.

Abu Dhabi’s ADQ and the Qazaqstan Investment Corporation (QIC), the main driver of direct investment into Kazakhstan, said the focus will be on food and agriculture, mobility, healthcare, energy transformation and clean technology, as well as fintech and education tech. 

The platform aims to leverage investment opportunities in Kazakhstan and the wider Central Asia and Caucasus region. 

As part of the collaboration, ADQ and QIC will commit to making equal financial and operational contributions to each investment.

The agreement follows a pledge by GCC and Central Asian leaders to boost trade at a summit held in July in Jeddah. 

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Latest figures show the value of GCC exports to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan surpassed $2 billion, while imports totalled more than $1 billion last year.

Electrical machinery and appliances constituted a major part of goods exported to Central Asia, while GCC imports were dominated by copper and its by-products, as well as gold, precious metals and stones, and iron and steel.

In October, Arman Shakkaliyev, minister of trade and integration of Kazakhstan, said there were some “great plans” to increase bilateral trade with the UAE to $1 billion. 

On the sidelines of the UNCTAD’s 8th World Investment Forum, Shakkaliyev shared plans for new trade routes from the Caspian Sea to Abu Dhabi and Dubai ports to boost agricultural exports.

Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi, managing director and CEO of ADQ, said he is confident that the new co-investment platform “will bring forward notable investments”.

Last year, Kazakhstan implemented 46 investment projects with the participation of foreign capital worth $4 billion, generating 6,500 jobs.

On Sunday, Presight AI Holding, the UAE-based big data analytics company, announced a joint venture with the Kazakh sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna to accelerate the nation’s digital transformation.

Agreements abound

Abu Dhabi Ports is also prioritising Kazakhstan for overseas growth and signed two agreements in November with oil and gas company KazMunayGas (KMG) and Kazakhstan Railways.

Under the Kazakhstan Railways deal, a joint venture will be established to enhance rail connectivity and maritime shipping services while also accelerating digital transformation across Central Asia.

On Monday, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation signed its first commercial uranium fuel supply contract with Kazakhstan’s National Atomic Company for the UAE’s Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant.

Kazakhstan is the world’s largest producer of uranium, holding approximately 12 percent of the world’s recoverable uranium resources and producing 40 percent of the world’s uranium supplies.

Last week, the governments of the UAE and Kazakhstan also signed an agreement to co-operate in the development of Kazakhstan’s renewables sector, including a 1GW wind power project which will mark Masdar’s debut in Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s largest economy.