Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan want to establish investment fund with $300 mln in capital

BAKU. April 19 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan plan to create an investment fund to finance projects on their own territories and in third countries.

The fund will be registered at the Astana International Financial Center and will begin to function in the near future. The initial capital of the fund will be $300 million, the Kazakh Embassy in Azerbaijan said in a statement.

The fund will finance projects in various sectors of the economy.

Issues of investment cooperation between the two countries were discussed at a meeting between Kazakhstan's Ambassador to Azerbaijan Alim Bayel and General Director of the Azerbaijan Investment Holding Ruslan Alikhanov.

"In particular, the parties exchanged views on the implementation of the agreement on strategic partnership between Samruk-Kazyna JSC and the Azerbaijan Investment Holding, which was signed during the President of Kazakhstan's state visit to Azerbaijan on March 11-12, 2024," the embassy said in a statement.

In addition, meeting participants discussed the development of the Trans-Caspian international transport route, the transit of Kazakh energy resources through the territory of Azerbaijan, the laying of a fiber-optic communication line along the bottom of the Caspian Sea, as well as the agreements reached on laying a deep-sea electric cable along the bottom of the Caspian Sea.

The Azerbaijani Investment Holding was created in 2020 to manage large state-owned companies. The holding manages 11 enterprises, including the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, AZAL, ASCO, AzerGold, Azerbaijan Railways, the International Bank of Azerbaijan and several others.

The Samruk-Kazyna State Fund was created in 2008. It manages the largest companies in Kazakhstan, including Air Astana, Kazakhtelecom, Kazatomprom, KazMunayGas, Kazpost, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (the state railway), KEGOC and others.