Photo: Akorda.kz

The President of Kazakhstan indicated that, in the future, the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) should become the main financial hub of the region and be one of the leading financial centres in Asia at the AIX Market Opening, reports the press service of Kazakh President.

- The financial centre has already given Astana a new status of “financial capital”. In the ranking of global financial centres, the city’s positions in the last year alone rose by 27 points. Astana will continue to develop as a “smart city” with comfortable conditions created for the lives of our citizens and guests of the capital, the President of Kazakhstan emphasized.

In his speech, the Head of State stresses the symbolism of the first trading on the AIFC Exchange on the eve of the 25th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s national currency referred to as tenge.

Nursultan Nazarbayev notes that the introduction of the national currency made it possible to form our own financial system and ensure the country’s economic sovereignty.

- Since then, the economy of Kazakhstan has grown significantly, and the population’s standard of living has risen. Large-scale reforms are being carried out in the country. Launching AIFC is an important step in the consistent sustainable development of our country, the Head of State said.

The President of Kazakhstan has also informed the attendees that today the national company Kazatomprom, which accounts for about 20% of the uranium’s world market, carried out its IPO for the first time.

- From now forward, we are planning to put up for sale the assets of Kazakhtelecom, Air Astana, KazMunaiGaz and other national companies. AIFC should be an accelerator for inducement of foreign capital and bring the stock market to the new level of development. The best practices are actively engaged here; leading partners and experts are involved, and unexampled conditions have been created for its participants, Nursultan Nazarbayev said.

In conclusion, Nursultan Nazarbayev noted that all the government’s initiatives are aimed at improving the welfare of the population and increasing the country’s  global competitiveness.

"The Qazaq Times"