Dubai International Chamber, one of the three chambers operating under Dubai Chambers, has reached Kazakhstan, which is the second destination of the New Horizons Trade Mission to Central Asia. The purpose of the event was to facilitate discussions between Dubai-based companies and Kazakh businesses interested in exporting and investing in the Kazakh market. This was achieved through a business forum and a series of high-level meetings with senior government officials, business leaders, and eminent investors.
The business forum was attended by more than 200 government officials and representatives from Kazakh companies, and a delegation of 24 Dubai-based companies from 16 economic sectors participated in the event. Over two days, more than 180 B2B meetings were facilitated in Astana and Almaty between Dubai-based companies and their counterparts from Kazakhstan.
New Horizons is an initiative spearheaded by Dubai International Chamber to drive the international expansion of Dubai businesses into new select markets, while promoting Dubai as a thriving global investment hub for companies from those markets. The initiative builds on the chamber’s ‘In Focus’ scheme, which connects public and private sector leaders of select countries to Dubai businesses and drives their interest in those markets as potential destinations for global business expansion. Both initiatives aim to assist in driving members’ international expansion while supporting Dubai’s plan to increase the emirate’s foreign trade to AED2 trillion by 2026. One of the Chamber’s key objectives is to support 100 businesses to expand globally within the next two years.
Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah, President and CEO of Dubai Chambers, emphasized the importance of building stronger bilateral trade with nations in Central Asia, particularly Kazakhstan. He noted that Kazakhstan is a key strategic trading partner to Dubai and the UAE, with exports and re-exports to Kazakhstan by members of the Chamber reaching AED192 million in 2022, and an increase of total Dubai exporters to Kazakhstan to 119 in the same year.
The business forum included a presentation on investment opportunities in Kazakhstan by Managing Director of Kazakh Invest, Azamat Kozhanov, as well as a visit to Astana International Financial Centre and site visits to the headquarters of several companies in Kazakhstan. Key partners supporting the business forum included the UAE Embassy in Kazakhstan, QazTrade, Kazakh Invest, and the Chamber of International Commerce of Kazakhstan.
Companies participating in the trade mission represented several economic sectors and activities, including building materials, e-commerce, environmental and electrical fields, fashion and clothing, free zones, home and hotel furniture, hospitality, medical equipment and supplies, perfumes, soaps and cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, financial assets, retail, security printing, ocean freight and logistics as well as FMCG.
There are various investment opportunities in Kazakhstan, including rare earth metals, agriculture, tourism, and logistics. Kazakhstan is rich in mineral products that Dubai has a high demand for, which creates an investment opportunity for Dubai’s metal manufacturing companies to produce semi-manufactured or final metal products in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan’s vast arable land of 210 million hectares also creates large investment opportunities for UAE food companies. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has boosted ecotourism in Kazakhstan, which can create new investment opportunities for Dubai companies. As logistics is one of the important sectors of the UAE’s economy, there is also an opportunity for Kazakhstan to play an important role as a transit country in the China-Europe route, creating significant investment opportunities for Dubai companies.
Dubai International Chamber’s mandate is to support Dubai’s target of boosting foreign trade from AED1.4 trillion to AED2 trillion by 2026 and enable Dubai businesses to expand successfully to global markets, supported by a powerful network of Dubai International Offices worldwide.