BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov.20
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao pledged ADB’s continued support to Kazakhstan, Trend reports with reference to the press office of ADB.
Nakao made the statement during his meeting with Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Nakao also met with country’s Prime Minister Askar Mamin, Minister of National Economy Ruslan Dalenov, and Governor of the National Bank Erbolat Dossaev.
Nakao’s two-day visit to Kazakhstan marks 25 years of ADB cooperation with Kazakhstan. In his meeting with Tokayev, Nakao congratulated the government on the successful partnership and reiterated ADB’s long-term commitment to supporting the country’s development.
"Kazakhstan was the first Central Asian country to join ADB in 1994. It is a country with a lot of potential and we have since been working together with the government to bring prosperity to the people of this nation. Moving forward, ADB is ready to support Kazakhstan’s evolving development needs as an upper middle-income country," said Nakao.
During Nakao’s meetings with senior government officials, he discussed ADB’s strategic engagement in fostering economic diversification, reducing inequalities, and promoting sustainable growth. Nakao is also scheduled to meet tomorrow with the prime minister and other members of the government to discuss ADB’s operations in the country and ways to improve the country’s competitiveness going forward.
Nakao noted that Kazakhstan recorded stronger-than-expected economic growth of 4.3 percent in the first nine months of 2019, backed by accelerating consumption, government spending, and growth in the service sector. He stressed that maintaining macroeconomic stability is critically important to ensure the country’s sustainable and inclusive growth at a time when trade disputes and political issues across the world have increased economic uncertainty.
"We stand ready to provide further support to Kazakhstan by financing projects in key sectors of the economy, attracting private sector investment, expanding our knowledge work, and introducing technological innovations," said Nakao.
During his visit, Nakao witnessed the signing of a $100 million-equivalent tenge denominated loan to the Housing Construction Savings Bank of Kazakhstan, backed by a guarantee of the Ministry of Finance. In an innovative step for ADB sovereign financing, the loan will be financed by issuing local currency bonds for the first time in whole ADB sovereign operations. The project, designed for promoting gender equality in housing finance, will allow more than 3,000 women, particularly in rural areas, to have access to affordable housing.
Furthermore, Nakao and the Mayor of Nur-Sultan City Altay Kulginov are scheduled to launch an ADB-supported clean technology project that installs engine block heaters in cars to reduce the environmental impacts of starting a vehicle’s cold engine during the winter months. The technology is expected to save over 220 million liters of fuel and reduce carbon emissions in Nur-Sultan by 430,000 tons.
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