The National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna, established at the height of the crisis, was announced by the government as a major operator of the anti-crisis program. Today, officials affirm that the fire is already "extinguished" and this is the right time to set new tasks, faced by Kazakhstani “chebol”.  

The 22nd regular plenary session of the Foreign Investors Council under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan that took place at the beginning of December 2009 in Astana became illustrative evidence of the fact that the relationship format between our country and transnational companies has seen significant changes in the recent period.  

The macroeconomic overview provided by SigmaBleyzer Company 

In expectation of positive changes in the economy, the Kazakhstan government is going to toughen requirements to foreign mining companies in taxation and expansion of product range. 

After the long and inefficient appeals to business to increase the share of local content the government intends to replace the carrot by the stick. It is going to use administrative methods in order to make "Support the domestic producer!" slogan work. This purpose is reflected in "The Concept of Kazakhstani content development", presented to the Kazakhstani parliament at the end of September, 2009. 

In the last two months the major event in the financial market was the decision of Kazakhstani stock exchange to delist the shares of three default financial institutes – BTA Bank, Alliance Bank and Astana-Finance. According to KASE, the major reason, driving this decision, was the negative indicator of equity capital at the beginning of 2009. However, it is still unclear why the delisting took place only in the last months of the year. 

The analysis of the preliminary current year’s performance indicators of the Kazakhstan oil and gas sector and of the 2010 forecast has showed that the republic has not managed to implement its ambitious plans to become one of the world’s top oil exporters as it announced earlier. 

The news in Kazakhstan is that soon the responsibility of companies for the way they make public purchases will be toughened, and also all mineral extraction companies will be obliged to transfer to electronic purchasing of goods, works and services. Thus, retaining the operating tax rates in the subsurface minerals sector, the government hopes to increase the level of Kazakhstani content in the extraction sectors. 

Kazakh insurance market is not immune to global crisis, but long-term prospects remain bright. The special report of Standard & Poor’s. 

Kazakhstan, located in the center of Eurasia, is doomed to become one of the transit hubs on the continent. Several international transport corridors, connecting Russia, European countries, South-Eastern Asian countries, Central Asian states, Transcaucasia, Turkey, and the Persian Gulf, traverse through our country. 

Vladimir Breusov, President of ASTEL JSC, shares his vision of telecommunications market development in Kazakhstan and the company’s anti-crisis strategy with our magazine.  

Abzal Kussainov, President of Park of Nuclear Technologies JSC answers questions of our magazine. 

Interview for Kazakhstan Magazine with Mrs. Z.K. Kanapianova, Board Chairman, KFICA 

Opinion poll. Some of the Foreign Investors Council companies' representatives share with us their vision of potential interaction between the investors and the state 

Interview with Lord Renwick of Clifton KCMG, Vice-Chairman, Investment Banking, JP Morgan  

Interview with Claudio Descalzi, Chief Operating Officer Eni E&P  

Interview with Jean Luc Porcheron, Managing Director, Total E&P Kazakhstan  

Interview with Jay Johnson, Managing Director, Chevron Eurasia  

Interview with Keith Gaebel, Managing Partner, Central Asia and Caucasus, Ernst & Young