The Senate, an
Upper House of the Kazakh Parliament, has endorsed the creation of the Turkic
Investment Fund by approving the bill for the ratification of the corresponding
agreement. This agreement was signed during the OTS Extraordinary Summit in
Ankara in March of this year. Alongside Kazakhstan, the fund’s founders include
Azerbaijan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Its authorized capital is
expected to be $500 million. It will be divided into 10,000 shares with a par
value of $50,000 each.
“The paid-up shares
worth $350 million represent an equal investment from the OTS member states,
amounting to $70 million each. If
necessary, the fund can request additional funding from the participants in the
event of an expanding project portfolio. The agreement also provides for the
possibility of including new member states and attracting additional funds from
international financial organizations. Hungary, as an observer country, has
recently announced its readiness to invest a minimum of $100 million once the
agreement is ratified by all countries,” Abzal Abdikarimov, Kazakh Vice Minister of National
Economy, said.
The fund will perform several important functions,
including supporting the growth of intraregional trade and financing small and
medium-sized business projects. It bears noting that its capital will primarily
be used to support and develop projects in areas of mutual interest to all
participating countries. These include industrial production, infrastructure,
transport and logistics, agriculture, tourism, and other sectors.
“First of all,
Kazakhstan is planning to put forth initiatives in the sphere of development of
international transport corridors, for example, the Trans-Caspian International
Transport Route. These are projects for constructing a container hub, expanding
the Kuryk port, and so on. We believe that these projects have a positive
impact on the development of international cooperation and trade,” Abdikarimov added.
