Blog of Chairman of the Board

Welcoming remarks by Dulat Aitzhanov, Chairman of the Board “KazAgroFinance” JSC Dear partners and colleagues!

Last year the Company was 11 years old. During all these years we have been tried to clearly fulfill our objectives and to contribute to the development of the industry. During this period we have become a recognized financial institution, established contacts with international companies and have achieved certain results in the work on support of agriculture in Kazakhstan.

Initially our company was established as a leasing company, which aims to help Kazakhstan farmers with upgrading of, first of all, agricultural machinery. But the shortage of domestic food products caused the necessity for development of new directions, so our company faced the objective of final import-substituting production. Therefore, since 2005, we have been financing projects on processing and producing finished products. These were mills, bakeries, sausage workshops and oil processing lines and more. The most important is that our projects, in addition to meeting the growing demand among the population, performed a social function of creating additional jobs, developing related infrastructures, etc.

11 years have passed, and now due to the Company’s efforts the financial leasing as a tool of updating the basic means of production and development of a competitive environment among financial institutions, is widespread not only in agro-industrial complex but also in Kazakhstan, and the Company has become a recognizable and well-known among agricultural producers. Over these years we have invested in agro-industrial complex more than U.S. 1 billion.

As you know, in the Address of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the people of Kazakhstan “Through Crisis to Renovation and Prosperity” the Head of State paid attention to agro-industrial complex, saying that due to its development "... we simultaneously solve two major objectives for the country – ensuring food security and export diversification. At that same time it was decided to continue financing investment projects in eleven major directions, “KazAgroFinance” JSC was identified as an operator of six of them. Certainly, it was difficult to start such a large-scale work. This is responsibility for funds of the National Fund, short-time work, the need for developing a clear mechanism for considering and financing projects, and more. However, I think we made it! During 2009 - 2010, 21 projects were funded to the total amount of KZT 18,9 milliard, this year there were approved another 13 projects to the amount of KZT 7,8 milliard. All the projects are innovative and carefully selected.

Transparency and compliance with international standards are our basic principles of work, so our plans for the near future are, in addition to continuing the implementation of investment projects, improving quality of services, further development of quality management system and further expansion of our customer base.

The successes we have achieved during this period became possible due to the support from the holding company and the State, the trust of partners and customers of “KazAgroFinance” JSC, as well as the dedicated work of all staff. Dear ladies and gentlemen, I want to express to you my great gratitude and confidence in the fact that also in the future we will grow due to our joint efforts!