October 6, 2020
Investing in Kazakhstan
1.1. Bilateral investment agreements
3. Guarantees (general, additional)
4.1.1. Investment contract form
4.1.2. Initiation of the conclusion of an investment contract
4.1.4. Termination of an investment contract
1. Legislation
Investment activities are mainly regulated by the following legislative acts:
Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated October 29, 2015 No. 375-V “Entrepreneurial Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan” (with amendments and additions as of 07.07.2020).
Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated July 7, 2004 No. 576-II “On Investment and Venture Funds” (with amendments and additions as of 01.01.2020).
Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated April 9, 2014 No. 791 “On the formation of the Council of National Investors under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan”.
Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated March 19, 2010 No. 958 “On the State Program for the Accelerated Industrial and Innovative Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2010-2014 and invalidating some decrees of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan” (with amendments and additions as of December 25, 2014).
Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated May 18, 2020 No. 302 “On approval of the list of investment projects proposed for financing from non-government loans under government guarantees, for 2020” (with additions dated June 25, 2020).
Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 29, 2009 No. 2225 “On approval of the list of budget investment projects that do not require the development of a feasibility study” (with amendments and additions as of 09.07.2020).
Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated April 7, 2020 No. 180 “On determination of the authorized body for the conclusion of special investment contracts and amendments and additions to some decisions of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan”.
Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated January 14, 2016 No. 13 “On some issues of the implementation of state support for investments” (with changes and additions as of February 24, 2020).
Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated April 20, 2019 No. 216 “On strengthening measures to attract foreign investment to the Republic of Kazakhstan” (as amended as of August 22, 2019).
Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated August 13, 2019 No. 585 “On approval of the Rules for organizing a “one window” for investors, as well as the procedure for interaction when attracting investments”.
Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated July 30, 2019 No. 548 “On approval of the Roadmap for further attracting investments to the Republic of Kazakhstan”.
Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated August 22, 2017 No. 498 “On approval of the Program for attracting investments” National Investment Strategy “and amending the Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 30, 2015 No. 1136” On approval of the list of government programs and invalidation of some decisions Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan “(with amendments and additions as of July 29, 2019).
Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 26, 2015 No. 1069 “On approval of the Regulation on the activities of the investment ombudsman” (as amended on April 20, 2019).
Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated March 1, 2017 No. 100 “On renaming the joint-stock company” National Agency for Export and Investment “KAZNEX INVEST” (with amendments and additions as of 03.07.2019).
Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 29, 2015 No. 1120 “On approval of the Rules for the provision of investment subsidies” (as amended on July 27, 2018).
Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated April 27, 2018 No. 224 “On the establishment of a non-profit joint stock company” International Center for Green Technologies and Investment Projects”
Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated June 22, 2017 No. 385 “On some issues of the joint-stock company” National company “KAZAKH INVEST”.
Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated May 28, 2014 No. 570 “On approval of the Comprehensive Action Plan to attract direct foreign and domestic investment”.
Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated September 1, 2009 No. 1293 “On approval of the list of strategic investment projects” (with amendments and additions dated April 25, 2014).
Order of the Minister for Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 29, 2015 No. 1265 “On approval of the Rules for issuing an application for an investor visa for persons who are non-residents of the Republic of Kazakhstan and carry out investment activities in the Republic of Kazakhstan” (with amendments as of 03.06. 2020).
Order of the acting Minister for Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 30, 2015 No. 1281 “On approval of the Rules for the admission, registration and consideration of applications for the provision of investment preferences” (as amended on June 1, 2020).
Order of the acting Minister for Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated February 8, 2017 No. 85 “On approval of the Rules and conditions for the conclusion and termination of a special investment contract” (with amendments and additions as of May 21, 2020).
Order of the Minister of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 5, 2014 No. 129 “On approval of the Rules for the development or adjustment, conducting the necessary examinations of the investment proposal of the state investment project, as well as planning, reviewing, selecting, monitoring and evaluating the implementation of budget investments and determining the feasibility of budget lending” (with changes and additions as of 05/06/2020).
Order of the Minister for Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated February 7, 2017 No. 75 “On approval of a standard special investment contract” (with amendments and additions as of November 28, 2019).
Order of the Minister for Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated February 6, 2017 No. 74 “On approval of the application form for the provision of investment preferences as part of the implementation of a special investment project and the rules for its admission and registration” (with amendments and additions as of November 28, 2019).
Order of the acting Of the Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated August 6, 2010 No. 136 “On approval of the Requirements for the development or adjustment, as well as conducting the necessary examinations of the feasibility study of an investment project for the provision of state guarantees” (with amendments and additions as of 05/27/2019).
Order of the acting Of the Minister of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated January 21, 2016 No. 22 “On approval of the Methodology for determining the cost of examination and assessment of documentation on budget investments, public-private partnerships, including concessions, investment projects for the provision of state guarantees, and budget lending to budget investment projects requiring the development of a feasibility study, and the implementation of state investment policy by financial agencies at the expense of the republican budget “(as amended on October 25, 2018).
Joint order of the Minister for Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated September 20, 2018 No. 666 and the Minister of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated September 21, 2018 No. 17 “On establishing the maximum amount of investment subsidies”.
Joint Order of the Minister for Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated March 30, 2018 No. 208 and the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated April 3, 2018 No. 143 “On approval of the Rules for recognizing the intended use of conditionally released goods placed under customs the procedure for release for domestic consumption, in respect of which privileges on payment of import customs duties and taxes have been applied, associated with restrictions on the use and (or) disposal of goods imported into the customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Union under the implementation of special investment contracts.
“Order of the Minister for Investments and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated November 30, 2015 No. 1133” On some issues of state support for investments “(as amended as of January 29, 2018).
Order of the Minister for Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated February 27, 2018 No. 140 “On approval of the List of raw materials and (or) materials, the import of which is exempt from value added tax under the investment contract”.
Order of the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated February 15, 2018 No. 199 “On approval of the Rules for submitting information on investment contracts concluded in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of entrepreneurship and providing for the implementation of investment priority projects, as well as information on the termination of these investment contracts and other information and their forms “.
Order of the Minister of Economy and Budget Planning of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 27, 2007 No. 228 “On approval of the application form and the list of documents for preliminary consideration of the project (investment proposal)”.
Order of the Minister of Economy and Budget Planning of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 27, 2007 No. 230 “On approval of detailed criteria for the selection of projects (investment proposals).
Order of the Minister for Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated October 13, 2015 No. 985 “On approval of the Specific action plan to attract direct foreign and domestic investment to the Republic of Kazakhstan”.
Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated April 20, 2019 No. 216 “On strengthening measures to attract foreign investment to the Republic of Kazakhstan” (as amended as of August 22, 2019).
1.1. Bilateral investment agreements
The current legislation establishes that if the bilateral investment agreements of the Republic of Kazakhstan (AIA) establish other rules than those provided by the legislation, then the AIA rules apply. The state, as a rule, within the framework of the majority of AIA undertakes to perform the following actions:
providing guarantees for investment protection and restoration of violated rights;
providing fair and equitable treatment, which cannot be less favorable than that defined in the AIA;
granting enterprises with foreign investment (FIE) all rights, guarantees and benefits.
The Republic of Kazakhstan has the following main agreements on the promotion and mutual protection of investments:
No Countries Date of signing
- Austria 12.01.2010
- Azerbaijan 16.09.1996
- Armenia 06.11.2006
- Belgian-Luxembourg Economic Union 16.04.1998
- Bulgaria 15.09.1999
- United Kingdom 23.11.1995
- Hungary 07.12.1994
- Vietnam 15.09.2009
- Greece 26.06.2002
- Georgia 17.09.1996
- Eurasian Economic Union 10.07.2009 (ratified)
- Egypt 14.02.1993
- Israel 27.12.1995
- India 09.12.1996
- Jordan 29.11.2006
- Iran 16.01.1996
- Spain 23.04.1994
- Italy 22.09.1994
- Qatar 04.03.2008
- China 10.08.1992
- Korea 20.03.1996
- Kuwait 31.08.1997
- Kyrgyzstan 08.04.1997
- Latvia 08.10.2004
- Lithuania 15.09.1994
- Macedonia 02.07.2012
- Malaysia 06.10.1997
- Mongolia 02.12.1994
- Netherlands 27.11.2002
- UAE 24.03.2018
- Pakistan 08.12.2003
- Poland 21.09.1994
- Romania 25.04.1996
- Russia 06.07.1998
- Serbia 07.10.2010
- Singapore 21.11.2018
- Slovakia 21.11.2007
- USA 19.05.1992
- Tajikistan 16.12.1999
- Turkey 01.05.1992
- Uzbekistan 02.06.1997
- Ukraine 17.09.1994
- Finlandia 09.01.2007
- France 03.02.1998
- Czech Republic 08.10.1996
- Switzerland 12.05.1994
- Sweden 25.10.2004
- Estonia 20.04.2011
- Japan 23.10.2014
1.2. State regulatory bodies
The authorized state body in the field of state regulation of investments and investment activities is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan (MFA RK). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has broad powers to make an independent decision on granting investment preferences.
The main powers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan in this area are:
advising investors;
coordination and monitoring of activities to accompany investors on the principle of “one window” for investors, carried out by the national company in the field of attracting investments and its regional representatives and representative offices, regional organizations in the field of attracting investments;
issuance of an application for an investor visa for persons who are non-residents of the Republic of Kazakhstan and carry out investment activities in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the manner determined by the authorized investment body
assistance to investors in securing a guaranteed order from interested legal entities in accordance with the investment contract concluded between the authorized investment body and the investor.
development of the procedure for determining the investment project for the provision of land plots from state ownership.
development of proposals for improving investment activities.
2. Investment activity form
Investment activity can be carried out by:
participation in the authorized capital of commercial organizations
creation or increase of fixed assets used for entrepreneurial activity, as well as for the implementation of a public-private partnership project, including a concession project
3. Guarantees (general, additional)
The state guarantees to subjects of investment activity:
compensation for harm caused as a result of the issuance of acts by state bodies that do not comply with the legislative acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as illegal actions (inaction) of officials of these bodies.
protection of the rights and legitimate interests by the investment ombudsman appointed by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan
the possibility of using income from investment activities
money transfer;
stability of the terms of contracts concluded between investors and state bodies of the Republic of Kazakhstan, except for cases when changes to contracts are made by agreement of the parties, changes are made in the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan and (or) come into force and (or) changes of international treaties of the Republic of Kazakhstan, with respect to the procedure and conditions for the import, production, sale of excisable goods, as well as changes and amendments that are made to the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan in order to ensure national security, public order, health and morality of the population.
Additional guarantees and investment protection measures may include
provision of a special tax and payment regime.
protection against nationalization and requisition (expropriation) (except in cases of natural disasters, accidents, epidemics, epizootics and in other circumstances of an emergency nature).
3.1. Benefits and preferences
Benefits and preferences used for state investment support may include:
benefits on taxes and payments;
state in-kind grants and investment subsidies for an investment priority project;
subsidizing interest rates on loans received by an investor for the implementation of an investment project.
Investment preferences are currently only applicable to Kazakhstani legal entities. Thus, if a foreign investor seeks to obtain investment preferences in accordance with the Entrepreneurial Code, he must establish a Kazakhstani legal entity.
Investment preferences are provided for the types of activities included in the list of priority types of activities approved by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
3.2. State support
State support for investment is provided in the following ways:
a centralized form of assistance to investors by the national company in the field of attracting investments and its regional representatives and representative offices, which is aimed at minimizing the participation of investors in the collection and preparation of documents and limiting their direct contact with government agencies.
provision of benefits and preferences;
provision of subsidies and state in-kind grants;
providing advisory and information support.
The national company Kazakh Invest organizes work on the principle of “one window”, which includes:
information and consulting support;
assistance in the preparation and execution of documents required for obtaining public services;
providing support for the activities of investors, including the organization of meetings of investors with government bodies, subjects of industrial and innovative activities, as well as associations of private entrepreneurship, holding business forums, conferences and seminars on investment topics, creating and maintaining a database of existing and prospective investors, assisting investors in solving emerging issues
support of the investor in government and local government bodies when receiving government services
4. Investment contract
An investment contract is an agreement for the implementation of an investment project, which provides for the implementation of investments and the provision of investment preferences.
The Entrepreneurial Code defines investors as individuals and legal entities making investments in the Republic of Kazakhstan. At the same time, a large investor is an individual or legal entity making investments in the Republic of Kazakhstan in the amount of at least 2,000,000 times the monthly calculation index.
Thus, the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan provides for national treatment for foreign investors, without separating foreign and Kazakh investors.
Benefits and preferences are provided when investing:
creation of new production facilities, expansion and (or) renewal of existing production facilities, including renewal (renovation, reconstruction, modernization) of existing production facilities manufacturing products for priority activities, the list of which is approved by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
as a participant in a special economic zone or an owner of a free warehouse in accordance with the customs legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and (or) acquired from a participant in a special economic zone or sold by a legal entity of the Republic of Kazakhstan that has entered into an agreement on the industrial assembly of motor vehicles.
4.1.1. Investment contract form
The authorized investment body, within ten working days from the date of the decision to grant investment preferences, prepares an investment contract for signing, taking into account the provisions of the model contract.
A model contract is understood as a standard contract approved by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and used when concluding investment contracts.
4.1.2. Initiation of the conclusion of an investment contract
The initiation of an offer to conclude an investment contract is actually carried out by the investor himself by submitting an application for the provision of investment preferences.
4.1.3. Consideration of the application by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, decision-making and signing of the contract
When considering an application, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan considers the application for compliance with the requirements of these Rules, checks the availability of documents, analyzes the business plan of the investment project, interacts with government bodies and other persons.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, within the limits of its competence and in order to fulfill the tasks assigned to it, has the right, in the manner established by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to attract specialists from relevant state bodies, consultants and experts from among individuals and legal entities of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan makes a decision within twenty working days from the date of registration of the application.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, within ten working days from the date of the decision on the granting of investment preferences, prepares an investment contract for signing, taking into account the provisions of the model contract.
4.1.4. Termination of an investment contract
The benefits and preferences within the framework of state support are terminated upon the expiration of the contract or ahead of schedule – by mutual agreement of the parties or unilaterally.
In case of termination of the agreement, the investor pays the amounts of taxes and payments not paid to the budget due to the benefits and preferences provided under the agreement within the framework of state support.
