On February 12, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with Nikolai Podguzov, the chairman of the Eurasian Development Bank’s (EDB) Management Board. Podguzov informed President Tokayev about the Bank’s plans and said that the EDB’s annual investment in Kazakhstan’s economy has exceeded $1 billion for the second consecutive year, the EDB’s press service reported.
The EDB is an international financial institution with member states including Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.
Podguzov said that the Bank’s investment in 2022 and 2023 amounted to $4.2 billion, which is nearly 1.5 times more than planned under its 2022–2026 Strategy. The proportion of Kazakhstan-based projects in the Bank’s portfolio continued to increase, reaching 59% by the end of 2023.
The President was also informed that the value of potential projects under consideration by the Bank in Kazakhstan for 2024 exceeded $3.5 billion. These investments are meant for strategically important sectors such as transport infrastructure, thermal and renewable energy, industrial production, agriculture, and water management.
Podguzov emphasized that this year, the EDB intends to foster the growth of Kazakhstan’s financial market, including the implementation of new instruments to fund infrastructure projects.
The EDB chairman also informed President Tokayev about the results of the Bank’s research on the Central Asian water and energy complex, and said that the Bank plans to promote the advancement of Kazakhstan as a driver of efficient water usage and stands ready to offer grants totalling up to $10 million to develop regional centres of expertise in water conservation and energy-efficient technologies and to allocate up to $400 million for projects involving digital water-metering technologies, laser land levelling for irrigated areas and the establishment of a regional production and service cluster for state-of-the-art irrigation equipment.
The Kazakh leader welcomed the EDB’s plans to host its Annual Meetings and business forum in Almaty this summer, with the agenda including the Central Asian water and energy complex, the transport network and financial instruments. The President also underscored the significance of Bank-supported infrastructure projects in Kazakhstan.
