ASTANA, Kazakhstan, May 16. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Kazakhstan have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Trend reports.
The document was signed by Kazakhstan’s Minister of Industry and Construction, Kanat Sharlapaev, and EBRD First Vice President Jurgen Rigterink.
Thus, EBRD will support the modernization and development of the national mining sector in Kazakhstan. The Memorandum of Understanding will lead to a more modern and sophisticated system and approach to capturing, processing, and disseminating geoscientific documents such as maps and data. The parties will cooperate on activities that can contribute to better governance, transparency, and regulation of the sector in line with the best international standards and practices.
In line with the MoU, the EBRD and Kazakhstan will be aiming to further develop the mining sector’s legal and regulatory frameworks. The parties will also work on improving the ability of the Ministry of Industry and Construction to adopt, implement, monitor, and enforce sector regulation.
"This MoU is part of the Bank’s approach to the responsible exploration and mining of critical raw materials. It is consistent with the EBRD’s mining strategy recently approved by its shareholders," EBRD First Vice President Jurgen Rigterink said.
Furthermore, the EBRD's current project portfolio in Kazakhstan reaches 2.8 billion euros as of February 29, 2024, based on the implementation of 119 active portfolio projects.
In addition, the bank has invested about 10 billion euros in 317 projects in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is the EBRD's largest and longest-running Central Asian banking business.