World Trade Center to be buit in Astana

President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev has met today with Rolf Draak, a Board Member of the World Trade Centers Association (WTCA), and Mehran Eftekhar, Group Finance and Corporate Services Director at Nest Investments Holdings, Kazinform cites the press service of Akorda.

The meeting was also attended by Asset Issekeshev, Head of the Presidential Administration, Bakhyt Sultanov, Mayor of Astana, and Kenneth Bruce James Anderson, an architect and designer. The project for the construction of a World Trade Center in the capital of Kazakhstan was presented to the Head of State. It is planned to be fully financed by foreign investment. Nursultan Nazarbayev highlighted that the current meeting is a continuation of the negotiations that took place on the sidelines of the Kazakhstan-European Business Forum in Brussels in October last year. "In Brussels, we discussed your proposals and agreed to meet again. In view of the extensive experience of the World Trade Centers Association in implementing such projects, I am sure that our cooperation will be fruitful for both parties. I want the project to be consistent with the mood, spirit of our capital and fit harmony with its architecture," said the President of Kazakhstan.

The Head of State dwelt on the process of the construction and establishment of Astana, telling about the history of each architectural object. Nursultan Nazarbayev underlined that being the center of Eurasia, Astana combines the architectural styles and traditions of Western and Eastern cultures. Besides, the Head of State told about the progress and results of the construction of the EXPO 2017 International Specialized Exhibition pavilions. "When we won the right to host EXPO 2017, we invited tenders. The Nur Alem Sphere, 80 meters in diameter, is a unique structure in the world. I was watching its construction. For now, at the premises of the infrastructure of the EXPO 2017 exhibition, we opened the Astana International Financial Centre, the International Center for Green Technology, and the International Technopark of IT Startups. The International IT University is also being created here. I think that the synergy of all projects will have a good multiplicative effect," said the President of Kazakhstan.

Rolf Draak, a Board Member of the World Trade Centers Association, thanked the Head of State for the opportunity to meet and discuss the project for the construction of a new building in the capital. In turn, Mehran Eftekhar, Group Finance and Corporate Services Director at Nest Investments Holdings, emphasized that Astana is of particular strategic importance in the process of expanding the company's trade and economic ties. "Our investment group owns 18 major world trade centers. We know how to build and how to manage such objects. Kazakhstan and Astana, in particular, are a crucial place in our strategic expansion due to their involvement in the big One Belt One Road project," said Eftekhar. At the end of the meeting, Nursultan Nazarbayev approved the presented project of a new World Trade Center building and charged the Mayor of Astana, Bakhyt Sultanov, with starting the joint work on the implementation of it.

Source: Kazinform