Kazakhstan's investment opportunities, in particular those at the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), were presented at the Emerging and Frontier Forum 2019 hosted by Bloomberg LP, one of the world's largest financial, software, data, and media corporations.

The forum serves as a platform for discussing the latest trends and investment opportunities in emerging and frontier markets.

Founder of Bloomberg LP, Michael Bloomberg, opened the forum that was attended by government members from Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Kuwait, Nigeria, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, as well as representatives of major investment and financial organisations, including the World Bank, HSBC Group, Amundi Asset Management , PIMCO, Renaissance Capital, Aberdeen Standard Investment, VinaCapital Group, and Asia Frontier Capital Ltd.

AIFC Governor Kairat Kelimbetov took part in one of the forum's discussions titled “New Trends in Investing: Who's Winning and Why?”.

Speaking about the AIFC's advantages, Mr. Kelimbetov stressed that Kazakhstan's Constitution was amended in order to ensure that the financial centre has an exclusive status and successfully applies the English Common law.

“A political decision was made, and for the first time in the post-Soviet territory, the rules and principles of English Common were applied. This is essentially a new jurisdiction, and the model is very similar to what was done in Dubai 20 years ago. This was a game changer for Kazakhstan and for the entire region because very clear and very familiar rules were introduced for the global investor community,” Mr. Kelimbetov said.

He also briefed the participants about the efforts of the Kazakh Government in diversifying the economy, the large-scale privatisation programme, the reforms in the financial system, and the wide structural reforms underway in Kazakhstan.

The AIFC Governor also spoke about the main goals of creating a financial centre in Kazakhstan, the opportunities the country has for foreign investors, the activities of the new AIFC-based Astana International Exchange (AIX), as well as Kazakhstan's involvement in the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, while aso emphasising Kazakhstan's political stability and favourable investment climate.