A special working group within President Nazarbaev’s Foreign Investors Council (FIC) was recently created to improve the business image of Kazakhstan. The working group will help boost Kazakhstan’s image as a country with favorable conditions for doing business.
Kaznex Invest, the national agency for export and investment, notes that the most immediate task is to create informational materials for presentations and organize their distribution abroad. In addition, the authorities plan to produce a TV spot to be broadcast on the main global TV channels.
This is not the first step to create a positive image of Kazakhstan’s business potential abroad. In January, an official representative office of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan was opened in New York to represent the interests of the Kazakhstani business community and provide a set of essential business services in the U.S. A series of investment forums in Kazakhstan have been organized with the aim to demonstrate profits and benefits of doing business in Kazakhstan.
Volumes of investment in Kazakhstan are showing positive dynamics. Last year, investment in Kazakhstani economy was $4 billion more than in 2008. However, according to research carried out by Bauman Innovation there were 1,150 publications with mentions about Kazakhstan in 2008, but last year they were only 357. Moreover, articles about business opportunities in Kazakhstan often have negative assessment.
The reasons of the distorted image of Kazakhstan is an absence of a deliberate strategy, which should include in-depth studies of various groups, including experts, opinion leaders, media around the world. It requires objectively researching the situation in the country, in order to clearly understand strengths and weaknesses and identify what needs to be communicated. Until both government and business develop such strategy, the image of Kazakhstan will evoke the standard stereotypes: steppes, kumis, camels, yurts … or worse, Borat.
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