On Monday, October 17, a meeting of the Samruk-Kazyna Public Council was held under the chairmanship of Bolat Zhamishev, where the draft development strategy developed by the Fund until 2032 was discussed. 

The document was prepared taking into account the instructions of the Head of State and the current socio-economic development of Kazakhstan. The Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan by the end of the year should approve it.  According to the strategy, in the next 10 years, Samruk-Kazyna will focus on effective portfolio management and increasing the value of net assets. As part of this task, it is planned to increase labor productivity in the companies of the Fund Group. 

The second goal is to develop fair competition and reduce the share of the Fund in the economy of Kazakhstan. It will be achieved through the privatization and IPO of portfolio companies. As a result of optimization, the number of assets of Samruk-Kazyna will decrease. The Fund will become an investor financing the largest infrastructure projects in Kazakhstan. The third goal is sustainable development and reduction of the net carbon footprint. The meeting was attended by both permanent members of the Public Council and invited external experts. They carefully read the draft strategy and made comments and recommendations to it. For example, Olga Bulavkina, the Senate Deputy, drew attention to the issue of tariff formation: in order to increase the profitability of companies, it is necessary to raise tariffs, which is not consistent with social responsibility. According to Yernat Berdigulov, the Managing Director of Samruk-Kazyna for Strategy and Asset Management, the Fund will rely on differentiated tariff formation. 

Different prices for electricity, transportation, communications and other services will be introduced for different categories of citizens, industry and business. The principle of “tariff in return for investment”, which the Head of State spoke about, will also be taken into account. Yelena Bakhmutova, the CEO of the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan, believes that two long-term goals of Samruk-Kazyna conflict: to become an international investor and at the same time maintain operational management of the largest companies in Kazakhstan, where the Fund will have a majority stake.  

As Yernat Berdigulov noted, Samruk-Kazyna cannot focus only on foreign investments following the example of foreign funds. Kazakhstan is a large developing country where it is necessary to create its own production, jobs, and maintain social stability. Therefore, Samruk-Kazyna JSC, taking into account the current socio-economic state of the country, will focus on large investments in the economy of Kazakhstan, and not abroad. Economist Almas Chukin believes that the strategists of Samruk-Kazyna should spell out in more detail the specific steps of implementing the plan by year, as well as more clearly prescribe the goals of transforming the Fund with a possible change in its status, for example, into a state investment corporation.  Many experts were interested in the issue of environmental responsibility of Samruk-Kazyna and compliance with ESG principles. 

According to Yernat Berdigulov, in the next 10 years the Fund will develop in Kazakhstan not only renewable, gas and nuclear, but also traditional coal energy. Energy security issues will come first. At the same time, the Fund takes on the task of reducing carbon emissions. In August, the Board of Directors approved the Low-carbon Development Concept of the Fund. 

Bolat Zhamishev proposed to bring the issues of the Fund’s environmental policy and ESG principles to a separate meeting of the Public Council in light of the high interest in this topic. Following the meeting, Bolat Zhamishev promised to bring the voiced recommendations of experts to the Board of Directors, and Yernat Berdigulov - to the Management Board of Samruk-Kazyna. 

The Chairman of the Public Council called on the Fund’s management “to take into account the opinion of experts to the maximum, remove the contradictions voiced by them, rearrange the accents and more clearly formulate a set of specific planned actions”. He asked the experts to submit detailed written proposals to the Fund, which will be taken into account when finalizing the draft strategy.