Kazakhstan will report on preparations for the 25th World Mining Congress in Vienna

On April 6-7, 2017 in Vienna the 97th meeting of the International Organizing Committee of the World Mining Congress will take place, during which the Deputy Chairman of the Industrial Development and Industrial Security Committee of the Ministry of Investments and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, an active member of the International Organizing Committee of the World Mining Congress (IOC WMC) Kanat Baitov made a report on preparations for the 25th World Mining Congress, which will be held on June 19-22, 2018 in Astana on the basis of Astana Mining & Metallurgy Congress.

Currently, the National Organizing Committee (NOC) has been established and is successfully functioning, the Honorary Chairman of which is the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The NOC meetings are held on the basis of the Ministry of Investments and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which includes the national companies, industry associations, scientific institutions and business leaders. The operator of the event will be the exhibition company Iteca, which has been holding the largest international exhibitions and conferences throughout Kazakhstan for more than 20 years.

At the meeting in Vienna the expanded program of the WMC was presented, which includes a variety of topics covering the whole chain of the mining and metallurgical complex (MMC): from geological exploration and mining to enrichment, from risk assessment to attracting international financing. A special emphasis in the program is made on issues related to the modernization of all basic industries, the introduction of the elements of the program Industry 4.0 and the best practices of its application in the world MMC.

At the upcoming Congress it is also planned to pay attention to investment issues in the sphere of MMC. So, during the preparation the negotiations with Mines & Money (the largest conference in Europe on investments in the mining industry) were held and the agreement to hold an investment conference on the basis of the WMC 2018 is being discussed, which will attract more than 300 investors to Kazakhstan in the future. In addition, the Congress program is designed in such a way as to increase attractiveness and ensure the participation of a large number of financial and investment groups, which is especially important since the adoption of the Subsoil Code and the future activities of the international financial center Astana.

We would like to remind that on October 21, 2016 within the framework of the WMC in Rio de Janeiro, the transfer of the traditional symbol of the World Mining Congress – “Oil Lamp” and the baton for holding the WMC to the Republic of Kazakhstan took place.

“For Kazakhstan the mining and metallurgical complex is one of the key areas of the country’s economy. In total structure of industrial production, the MMC accounts for 18%. For this very reason holding the World Mining Congress in 2018 in Astana is the most important event for us, which will certainly have a positive impact on the whole sector of the country. I am confident that drawing on our experience and knowledge gained today, we will be able to hold the WMC 2018 at the highest international level,” said Kanat Baitov.
Kanat Baitov also noted that the value of the WMC is that this event attracts a large number of scientific institutes, the research and latest developments of which major companies of the industry are interested in. Now, there is strong interest of international commercial and investment organizations in the participation in the Congress and their financial support allows organizing such a large-scale event at a high level.