Council of Foreign Investors makes recommendations to Kazakh government

Investors have asked Kazakhstan to expand the list of countries with visa-free regime,Tengrinews reports. Chairman of the Kazakhstan Council of Foreign Investors Ulf Wokurka made several recommendations during the meeting of the Council of Foreign Investors in Astana on June 4.

The first proposal was to greatly expand the list of countries that have visa free regime with Kazakhstan and to extend the pilot project run by the Kazakh government that enables citizens of 16 countries to stay in Kazakhstan for up to 15 days at a time without needing a visa. The second proposal was to decriminalize tax violations “in case of voluntary repayment of the taxes and fines" and to decriminalize economic relations between private businesses.

The third recommendation was to continue working towards a greater tax certainty. "Namely, consider introducing a provision in the law that in disputes in court all the inherent contradictions and ambiguities of the normative legal acts on taxation shall be interpreted in favor of the taxpayer," Wokurka said.

The Association also proposed to consider improving the conditions to attract developers of mineral resources to fund projects of the autonomous cluster fund "Park of Innovative Technologies" and science park "Astana Business Campus" at the Nazarbayev University.

In addition, it was recommended to explore measures that could help train qualified personnel and ensure they have the knowledge and skills to effectively transfer and practically implement new technologies in priority areas.

In turn, President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that all these points will be taken into account. "Your recommendations are very specific and relevant. I accept them all. On some issues, we have already made decisions, namely in decriminalization of economic activities and taxation. (...) I instruct the government to study the proposals in detail and implement them," the Kazakhstan President said.

In his speech Ulf Wokurka noted that despite a decline in the investment activities around the world, the inflow of investors to Kazakhstan continued to grow.

"Last year, the global foreign direct investment fell by 8 percent, and in the countries with transitional economies the investment fell by almost 50 percent. Despite this, Kazakhstan has seen a steady growth in the inflow of direct investment. In the past 5 years about $20 billion were attracted annually," Wokurka said.

Source:tengrinews