On November 29, nearly 200 people including those from over 100 domestic listed companies, banks, securities dealers and institutional investors, together with representatives from the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), Kazakhstan and the industrial circle of Kazakhstan, compared notes on investment and financing opportunities provided by the AIFC in the central area of the Eurasian continent under the backdrop of the Belt & Road (B&R) initiative and the new economic policy of "Bright Avenue" put forward by Kazakhstan.
Chairman Wu Qing of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) delivered a speech for the opening ceremony of the seminar. He said that since China and Kazakhstan established the diplomatic relation 25 years ago, the two countries had witnessed frequent economic and trade contacts. The two sides' relationship had achieved a leapfrog growth, and reached an unprecedented high. The linkage of the B&R construction and the new economic policy of "Bright Avenue" would provide a broader prospect for the two countries' cooperation and a giant development potential for the future of the AIFC, and lay a solid foundation for the strategic cooperation between the SSE and the AIFC. Wu stressed in his speech that positively echoing to the B&R imitative, the SSE recently formulated and issued the "Vision and Action Plan of SSE for Serving B&R Construction". Next, the SSE, the AIFC and all market participants would jointly make efforts to consistently explore the issue of the capital market serving the B&R construction and the financial innovation system under the backdrop of the new economic policy of "Bright Avenue", so as to continuously boost the two countries' financial cooperation.
The AIFC, sponsored by Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev in 2015, will make an independent judicial system based on the British laws. It aims to build an attractive special economic zone in Kazakhstan and an engine for the country's economic reform, and it will also play a unique role in linking the B&R initiative and the new economic policy of "Bright Avenue". At the seminar, Mr. Kelimbetov, Governor of the AIFC, comprehensively introduced the status quo of economic development of Kazakhstan and the main content of the new economic policy of "Bright Avenue" and emphatically explained the planning, mission and prospect of the AIFC. Kelimbetov especially stressed the significance of the strategic cooperation between the SSE and the AIFC to the latter's future development.
At the seminar, a lot of attendees said that thanks to the activity, they further understood the significance of the B&R initiative for Kazakhstan, fully knew the strategic positioning and characteristics of the AIFC, and especially had deeper understanding of the investment and financing opportunities resulted from the combination of the B&R initiative and the new economic policy of "Bright Avenue" and relevant risks. They expected that the strategic cooperation between the SSE and the AIFC would provide more effective investment and financing platforms for the cooperation of the two countries.
Shakhrat Nuryshev, Kazakhstan Ambassador to China, made a speech at the seminar as well.
The seminar was the most important road show before the AIFC officially opens, and it was the first great promotion activity co-held by the two sides in China after the SSE and the AIFC signed an agreement on strategic cooperation in this May. According to Kelimbetov, the AIFC will be officially put into operation in early 2018, and companies and institutions from China are encouraged to take an active part in all businesses of the AIFC.
