As part of his working visit to the United States, Alibek Kuantyrov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, held a series of meetings in Washington, New York, and San Francisco with representatives of international financial institutions and the private sector, DKnews.kz reports.
At the World Bank, he met with Norma Loayza, Director of the Global Indicators Group for the Business Ready program. They discussed improving the methodology for assessing the investment climate, reflecting regional specificities, and the impact of non-tariff barriers on business activity. The Business Ready program, launched in 2024 as a replacement for Doing Business, includes Kazakhstan in its review starting in 2025. The Kazakh side confirmed its readiness to provide local data and participate in consultations to ensure accurate consideration of national specifics.
With Stephanie Ashton, Vice President of Business Development at IG Global, the parties discussed prospects for implementing investment projects in the mining sector.
An exchange of views also took place with the Bay Area Economic Institute and the SF Chamber of Commerce on Kazakhstan’s investment attractiveness and potential cooperation with Silicon Valley businesses.
Meetings were held with several companies to explore project development in sustainable energy, raw material processing, biotechnology, and technological cooperation.
With Windfall Bio, they discussed the application of microbiological technologies for methane capture and their potential use in Kazakhstan’s agribusiness sector.
With Boardwurks, they touched upon the prospects for launching joint production of composite building materials from hemp.
Astranis Space Technologies Corp. presented satellite communication solutions relevant for connecting Kazakhstan’s remote areas.
At the Silkroad Innovation Hub, the parties discussed support for Kazakhstan’s startups, development of international acceleration programs, and conditions for enabling Digital Nomads from Kazakhstan to work in the U.S.
These meetings marked an important step in advancing Kazakhstan’s economic diplomacy and promoting the country’s interests in key areas of technological and sustainable development.
Summing up the meetings, Deputy Minister Kuantyrov emphasized that the United States remains one of Kazakhstan’s key investors, with total investment exceeding 62 billion US dollars. In this context, strengthening dialogue with U.S. partners is of particular importance for the implementation of new joint projects and building mutual trust.
