Samruk-Kazyna mulls opening subsidiary in Silicon Valley

National Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna is planning to expand into Silicon Valley and open a subsidiary company Samruk Innovation, Tengrinews reports citing the press office of the fund.

A delegation from Samruk-Kazyna led by its Chairman of the Board Umirzak Shukeyev visited Silicon Valley in California. They toured Stanford University, University of California Berkeley and a number of leading innovative companies such as Tesla Motors, Solar City and other successful startups.

“They discussed cooperation in development of clean energy, chemical utilization of natural gas, transportation, medicine, agriculture and education in IT. Creation of Samruk Innovation in Silicon Valley was also on the agenda,” the press office reported.

During the visit, the delegation presented Samruk-Kazyna Wealth Fund, upcoming International Exhibition EXPO-2017 to be held in Astana, Green Block of Astana and Kaz PV solar panels project.

Representatives from Stanford, Solar City and Motors were invited to Kazakhstan to participate in the Astana Economic Forum in May 2015. The forum gathers representatives of companies working with innovative technologies to discuss the preparations for the EXPO-2017.

According to the press offce of the Wealth Fund, the offer was welcomed by businessmen and scientists working in Silicon Valley. “They came up with a number of possible cooperation projects for the EXPO-2017 during the meeting with a member of the Solar City board of directors and General Director of Tesla Motors Elon Musk,” the Samruk-Kazyna press office said.

Samruk-Kazyna is a sovereign wealth fund and joint stock company in Kazakhstan which owns, either in whole or in part, many important companies in the country, including the national rail and postal service, the state oil and gas company KazMunaiGas, the state uranium company Kazatomprom, Air Astana, and numerous financial groups. The state is the sole shareholder of the fund.

Writing by Gyuzel Kamalova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina