IN THE PRESS

TBY renews MoU with the Ministry of Industry

Kazakhstan, January 30, 2012 — Leading international business and consultancy company The Business Year (TBY) and KAZNEX INVEST have signed a partnership agreement to publish The Business Year: Kazakhstan 2012, which will be a follow up to the debut edition released in 2011. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in Astana by Mr. Kairat Karmanov, Managing Director of National Export and Investment Agency KAZNEX INVEST JSC, and Ms. Vera Sharova, Country Manager of TBY.

On January 30 executives of TBY and KAZNEX INVEST met in Astana to sing the MoU, which marks the official launch of TBY’s second macroeconomic research project in Kazakhstan. “It is important to establish continuity in such macroeconomic research in order to keep interest in Kazakhstan at a high level in international investment circles. We are very happy to work with TBY to this end,” said Mr. Kairat Karmanovat the signing ceremony. Ms. Vera Sharova expressed her pleasure to be a part of TBY’s second project in Kazakhstan, and said that, “We have created great momentum with The Business Year: Kazakhstan 2011. Against the backdrop of continuing investor appetite for Kazakhstan, the second edition will provide leaders from Kazakhstan’s private and public sectors to highlight their experiences, visions, and business opportunities in the country.” Mr. Asylkhan Serikov, Chairman of the Committee on Investments, Ministry of Industry and New Technologies of the Republic of Kazakhstan went on to say that “We believe our daughter company KAZNEX INVEST and TBY will create great synergy, which will reflect the business sentiment in the private sector and investment opportunities in Kazakhstan as accurately as possible.”

TBY’s debut Kazakhstan edition, The Business Year: Kazakhstan 2011 was published in September 2011 in partnership with the Committee on Investments under the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies and distributed globally reaching to TBY’s subscriber base of 87,000 readers. The publication also found excellent reception in leading international exhibitions and conferences held in Kazakhstan including KIOGE, Kazenergy and the Silk Road Summit. In addition to an exclusive interview with HE Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the publication also featured contributions from HE Dimitry Medvedev, President of Russia, HE Ahmet Davutoglu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey and HE Tun Musa Hitam, President of World Islamic Economic Forum Foundation, highlighting Kazakhstan’s increasing profile in bilateral and multilateral international relations.

The Business Year: Kazakhstan 2012 will present a thorough and up-to-date analysis of the latest economic developments in Kazakhstan and feature interviews with a number of high-profile leaders from public and private sectors. According to the partnership arrangement, The Business Year team will spend five to six months in Kazakhstan to conduct field research, focusing on all the major sectors of the country’s economy including finance, industry, energy, ICT, transport, real estate and construction, health and education, as well as tourism and agriculture. The TBY team will conduct more than 120 face-to-face interviews with Kazakhstan’s top decision makers to better understand and more accurately reflect the country’s business sentiment.

KAZNEX INVEST

National Export and Investment Agency “KAZNEX INVEST” JSC (hereinafter –“KAZNEX INVEST” JSC) of the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies of Kazakhstan is one of the national development institutions and is intended to help diversify the national economy by creating more favorable conditions for development and promotion of Kazakhstan’s non-commodity exports and attracting foreign direct investment in priority sectors of the economy. KAZNEX INVEST carries out its activities under the State program for accelerated industrial-innovative development of Kazakhstan for 2010-2014. http://www.kaznex.kz