OREANDA-NEWS. May 29, 2012. Mayor of Astana Imangali Tasmagambetov told about the investment opportunities in the capital of Kazakhstan at the Third International Investment Forum "Astana- Invest- 2012", which took place at the Palace of Independence in the framework of the Fifth Astana Economic Forum.

"We understand, that any investor interested in two important questions:" what advantages of our economy, and what guarantees for its capital?" he said, in his welcoming speech, at the first plenary session "Astana - the heart of Eurasia and the gates to the Customs Union".

According to him, one of the main advantages of Astana is a presence of "well-established investment site for the development of modern industry" in a form of Special economic zone "Astana - new city."

The Mayor stressed that participants of the SEZ receive free lands in its territory and are fully exempt from land and property taxes, as well as from corporate income tax. A legalizing of documents on the land lease, a passing of the state examination, registration and delivery of goods and professionals are summarily provided. Also, VAT on the cost of materials and equipment are compensated to investors.

“An important aspect of high investment attractiveness of Astana and Kazakhstan is a guarantee and protection of investors’ interests by the state,” Imangali Tasmagambetov said.

Also, he emphasized than an international experience to overcome administrative and corruption barriers are actively studied.

One of these measures is a creation of the Investor Service Centre, which renders a service support to each investor and his activities in the pre-investment, active and post-investment stages.

Also, the Mayor said that by the order of President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, an implementation of new legal mechanisms for business-initiatives protection is continued.

He said that a lot of investment projects are ready to be implemented within SEZ "Astana - new city."

"Totally, this is a good starting investment site, which should be already occupied. In this regard, we formed a portfolio with 45 projects, which ready to be implemented on the territory of the Industrial Park in case of your interest,” Imangali Tasmagambetov said.

Imangali Tasmagambetov stressed that an important positive effect for the economy of Astana and Kazakhstan, is a creation of new work places, development of Kazakhstan content, at the same time an implementation of high-tech projects and innovations are interesting for Astana.

So, he stressed, the state is ready to consider any proposals and projects.

"During this Forum, we are ready to sit down with you at the negotiating table and come to a joint good result. Finally, a business must decide, where investments will be more profitable. It’s very important for us, that each of you will find a use to your business, which certainly will be profitable. We guarantee a full support for all your initiatives," Imangali Tasmagambetov said.

In the framework of the plenary session "Astana - the heart of Eurasia and the gates of the Customs Union" presentations were made by:

Deputy Secretary-General of the EurAsEC Sergey Glazyev on "Regional integration - the basis of increasing the investment attractiveness of the Community";

Vice Minister of Economic Development and Trade Timur Zhaksylykov - "Creation of favorable investment climate within the Customs Union";

Chairman of the National Economic Chamber of Kazakhstan "Atameken" Ablay Myrzakhmetov - " Perspectives of business development within the Customs Union"