Kazakhstan expects to attract around $6 bln from AIIB within five years

ASTANA. Sept 23 (Interfax) - The Kazakh parliament reviewed and adopted in two readings the law on ratifying the framework agreement on the partnership between the Kazakh government and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) at a meeting on Wednesday.

"The agreement establishes norms different from national legislation related to the application of the bank's policies and rules in implementing loans under state guarantee and grant projects," Deputy Prime Minister and National Economy Minister Serik Zhumangarin said at the meeting.

In particular, the application of the AIIB's rules for the procurement of goods, work and services as well as anti-corruption, environmental, social, labor standards and information disclosure norms is envisaged.

"Overall, ratification is a standard procedure necessary for the agreement to enter into force, which will make it possible to accelerate the process of implementing infrastructure projects," Zhumangarin said.

The framework agreement will make it possible to attract additional "long money" on preferential terms into the Kazakh economy in the amount of around $6 billion in sectors such as transport, energy, healthcare, and green finance in the first five years after ratification, he said.

"In the near future, work will begin on financing a number of infrastructure projects, in particular the reconstruction of the Zhezkazgan-Karaganda, Aktobe-Karabutak-Ulgaysyn, Atyrau-Dossor and Moyynty-Kyzylzhar roads and railways," Zhumangarin said.

Over 10 years of cooperation with the AIIB, Kazakhstan has implemented seven projects worth $1.8 billion in energy, healthcare, and economic and fiscal sustainability, he said.