The government of Kazakhstan and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development are joining forces to improve standards of solid waste management and water management in the country which has proclaimed green economy as its goal.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the EBRD and the Ministry of Environmental Protection by EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti and Minister Nurlan Kapparov in Astana today before a meeting of the Foreign Investors Council.
The two sides agreed to cooperate on reforms and projects in waste and water management sectors.
“The EBRD has always been supportive of initiatives in Kazakhstan that make the economy more efficient and improve peoples’ lives, and we are strongly behind the government’s green agenda”, said EBRD President Chakrabarti. “This memorandum is a signal that both the Bank and Kazakhstan are willing to cooperate on a new level. We have already financed innovative, pioneering waste-to-energy projects in Kazakhstan and now we are developing a framework for such projects as key investment partner of the Kazakh government in the sector”.
Since the beginning of its operations in Kazakhstan 20 years ago, the EBRD has invested close to US$ 6.3 billion in the country’s economy. Over US$ 650 million of this sum was invested into sustainable energy projects, including the new waste-to-energy plant to be built in the city of Aktau.
The new EBRD Sustainable Resource Initiative, launched this month at the Annual Meeting in Istanbul, widens the EBRD’s sustainability efforts to include resources such as water or solid waste which can be recycled.