Kazakhstan to issue first green bonds

WAM  -- Within the next 12 months, the Astana International Financial Centre, AIFC, plans to issue the first "green" bonds, the Kazakhstan International News Agency, Kazinform, reported on Monday.

"The first steps are very important and we are working with the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange, KASE, in order to understand how to issue the first "green" bonds. It is this topic that we will have to work on for the next 12 months," the AIFC Governor, Kairat Kelimbetov, said at a conference dedicated to the discussion of developing a "green" financial system in Kazakhstan.

He reaffirmed that the newly established Financial Centre will be located on the territory of the EXPO-2017. According to Kelimbetov, a regulatory framework of the AIFC has already been created and the AIFC Court will also start functioning soon. The new exchange will have two players: NASDAQ, which will provide an IT platform and will be one of the partners, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange that has already agreed to invest in the AIFC.