Astana International Financial Centre and KaukoInternational agreed on cooperation in the field of green finance

AIFC Green Finance Centre

24 November 2017 00:00:00

The Kazakh-Finnish business seminar "Modernization 3.0 and Heritage of EXPO-2017: New Prospects for Partnership between Kazakhstan and Finland" was held in Helsinki, where the issues of development of investment cooperation and implementation of joint projects between the two countries were discussed.

The representatives of the Finnish business community expressed a great interest regarding the presentation of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC).

According to Aidar Kazybayev, Managing Director of AIFC Authority, AIFC already negotiates with a number of Finnish companies for the development of green finance and the transfer of green technologies to Kazakhstan. A. Kazybayev noted that Finnish companies show interest to become the participants of a newly-created financial centre.

As a result of the seminar, AIFC and KaukoInternational signed a memorandum of cooperation in the field of green finance and clean technologies. The parties agreed to explore the possibility of establishing a joint organization to promote and encourage green financing and investment.

KaukoInternational intends to assist in promoting AIFC in international financial organizations, attracting investments and assigning AIFC the status of a regional hub for green finance.

According to Aydar Kazybayev, green finance is one of the main activities of the AIFC.

"AIFC will create all necessary conditions for the development of green products and financing services taking into account environmental factors that will support investment and stimulate the development of low-carbon technologies and projects. AIFC is also open for the implementation of green financing programs, in particular, the issue of green bonds, "A. Kazybayev said.

"KaukoInternational is interested in expanding cooperation with Kazakhstan. We see great prospects in reaching agreements with the Astana International Financial Centre, as the main point on the map of financial and economic opportunities for the entire Central Asia. In the near future, we plan to register on the territory of the AIFC, which will allow us to get tax preferences. I am glad that AIFC has allocated green finance in a separate strategic direction and I believe that the financial centre can become a regional leader in the sphere of green finance, “Niiles Airola, the CEO of KaukoInternational noted.

The parties also agreed to exchange experience and information in the field of green finance, training and internships for AIFC staff in Finnish companies.

Reference:

AIFC. In December 2015, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, signed the Constitutional Law on the establishment of the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC). The purpose of the AIFC is to form a leading centre of financial services of an international level. For the first time in the post-Soviet space, the principles of English law will be introduced: the official language of the financial centre will be English.

AIFC's tasks are to assist in attracting investments in the country's economy by creating an attractive environment for investing in financial services, developing the securities market of the Republic of Kazakhstan, ensuring its integration with international capital markets. AIFC also intends to develop in the country the market of insurance, banking services and the market of Islamic financing. www.aifc.kz

KaukoInternational is a Finnish based company and a modern trade- & project house with almost 70 Years of experience in international trade. Currently, it is operating in 22 countries and represents well-known machine and component manufacturers in 2 continents. It is specialised in bioproduct, energy efficient and environmental technologies. Its aim is to create competencies to our clients, with selected products and services in targeted markets.