Kazakhstan – Austria Business Council 2018

Kazakhstan and Austria are reliable and promising economic partners. This thesis was repeatedly voiced during the meetings of representatives of the business circles of the two countries held on September 27-28 in Vienna, reports http://www.mfa.kz

An important implements of mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation and coordination of interaction between Business pool is of the Kazakhstan-Austrian Business Council, confessed in 2012 at the initiative of Presidents N. Nazarbayev and H. Fischer. During its meetings, topical issues of the state and development of economic relations between the two countries are discussed. The co-chairs of the Council since its Foundation are the Chairman of the Engineering workers guild of Kazakhstan Pshembayev M. and Vice-President of the Economic Chamber of Austria Schenz R.

The main topics of the 6th meeting of the Kazakhstan-Austrian Business Council held in Vienna on September 27 were: cooperation in the field of mechanical engineering, mining, "Green Technologies", digitalization. The participants noted that the basis of its activities creates cooperation in the engineering sector. In this regard, the practice of mutual participation of representatives of this industry in bilateral forums held in Kazakhstan and Austria was positively evaluated. In particular, Austrian representatives took an active part in the 6th forum of the Engineering Workers Guild of Kazakhstan held in Astana on September 20-21.

The Kazakhstan side paid special attention to the importance of attracting advanced Austrian technologies, especially renewable and energy-saving. The Austrian side expressed its readiness to assist in training in Austria, in particular the Technical University of Vienna, Kazakhstan specialists in the field of engineering and metallurgy.

During the meeting, work plans for 2019 were agreed, including a regular meeting of the Business Council in Astana, mutual visits of Economic delegations, business forums.

In a broader context, the development prospects of bilateral economic relations were discussed at the Kazakhstan-Austrian Economic Forum with the participation of representatives of firms and companies of the two countries held on September 28 at the Economic Chamber of Austria. In particular, the Kazakhstan side was represented by Large Companies and Joint Stock Companies ALE of the Engineering Workers Guild of Kazakhstan, PC "KazakhInvest", JSC "Baiterek", JSC "Zerde", JSC "Kazakh Association of automation and robotics".

An indicator of interest in cooperation with Kazakhstan is that more than 60 Austrian companies took part in the forum. Speaking at its opening, Vice-President of the Economic Chamber Of Austria R. Shenets stressed that Kazakhstan is a priority partner of Austria in the region and Austrian companies are ready to invest in the country's economy.

Followed by the Chairman of the Engineering Workers Guild of Kazakhstan Pshembayev M. noted a good level of bilateral economic cooperation, the indicator of which is the activity in the market of Kazakhstan about 200 Austrian companies, including such well-known as OMV, Kapsch, Borealis, Andritz Hydro, Herz Armaturen, Christoph Group, etc.

In this context, a speech by the Chairman of the Agency for public service and anti-corruption Affairs of Kazakhstan, A. Shpekbayev, in which he spoke about the measures taken by the Government of Kazakhstan to create attractive conditions for investors, as well as practical steps to combat corruption, aroused great interest among the participants.

Austrian participants of the forum in their speeches expressed positive assessments about the investment environment in Kazakhstan, as well as the framework conditions that have been created by the Government for doing business. All this is an incentive to expand the presence of Austrian companies in Kazakhstan.

With great interest was received the information that in order to further stimulate investment and business cooperation, the management of PC "Kazakh Invest" decided to appoint in Austria its special representative of the Kazakhstan-Austrian society in the person of the General Secretary of the Kazakhstan-Austrian society, Felner F.

During the presentations and bilateral meetings held within the framework of the forum, the participants received additional information about the conditions of activity in the markets of the two countries, prospects for deepening trade and economic cooperation, had the opportunity to establish direct contacts between firms and discuss specific projects.

For reference: The Kazakhstan-Austrian Business Council has been held since 2012 on an annual basis in order to improve business cooperation between the countries and address issues that hinder effective business relations between Austrian and Kazakhstan companies.

Engineering Workers Guild of Kazakhstan unites more than 200 enterprises and has 14 regional offices throughout Kazakhstan. Its goals are the development of the domestic engineering industry and consolidation of domestic engineering industry enterprises.