Photo: AIFC

Astana International Financial Center will work starting from January 2018, and its official opening is planned  for July 2018, the head of the AIFC Kairat Kelimbetov during the margins of the meeting of the Government said.

'The financial center is ready for the first transactions by 2018. AIFC should become a center for local expertise, and public offering of shares of national companies will allow developing a local capital market, which will open opportunities for promoting the Astana site in regional markets," he said.

'Kairat Kelimbetov , it is a challenge not only for you, but for all of us. It is  a huge project within the framework of five institutional reforms, within 100 steps to implement these reforms, and we do not have the right to make mistakes. All the nuances, if they still exist should finish until the end of December. From January 1, 2018,  you could already start and announce to the whole world that one more financial center was launched in the territory of the Great Steppe' concluded Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Bakhytzhan Sagyntaev.

Recall, on May 22, 2015, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a decree on the establishment of the Astana International Financial Centre. 'It will be based on the principles of English law with a preferential tax regime and an independent financial court. We are confident that Astana financial center will be the core of the financial infrastructure in Kazakhstan, a further financial hub for the entire Central Asian region' said President.

“The Qazaq Times”