Kazakhstan president receives QBA leaders; discusses investment projects

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan, received HE Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, chairman, Qatari Businessmen Association on Wednesday, where they discussed a number of investment projects.Tokayev urged the QBA chairman and members to invest in his country.The Kazakh president said his country welcomes Qatar’s investments in all sectors, as a number of memorandums of understanding have been signed in industrial, commercial, tourism, educational and other sectors.He expressed interest in Qatari private sector investments in Astana, especially that of the members of the QBA.He also invited QBA chairman and members to visit Kazakhstan, where there are great investment opportunities in infrastructure, tourism, healthcare, education and other sectors.Sheikh Faisal said Qatari companies have sufficient competitive experience to enter global markets.He expressed interest of QBA and his group in exploring investment opportunities in Kazakhstan, especially in tourism and education, particularly higher education, where an idea for the establishment of a university specialised in technology is being studied between the two countries.He pointed out that since the establishment of diplomatic relationship between Qatar and Kazakhstan, some 30 years ago, Astana and Doha have been working together.Continuously developing mutually beneficial co-operation in various fields, Qatar is currently a very important and reliable partner for Kazakhstan in the Middle East, and bilateral co-operation is characterised by active communications between the leaderships of the two countries.The meeting was preceded by a round table between the two sides, which was attended by members of the Qatari Businessmen Association, Khaled al-Mannai, Ashraf Abu Issa, Mohamed Moataz al-Khayyat, Nabil Abu Issa, Ramez al-Khayyat, Maqbool Habib Khalfan, Youssef al-Mahmoud, Dr Mohamed Altaf, Dhafer Halawa, and Sarah Abdullah, QBA deputy general manager.During the Roundtable, The Investment Holding Group signed a partnership agreement with the Kazakh Ministry of Health in the healthcare sector.The agreement was signed by Mohamed Moataz al-Khayyat, chairman of the group. The group plans to build a multi-functional medical centre in Astana.The agreement also aims at meeting the growing needs of the healthcare in Kazakhstan and providing world-class medical services.