Kazakhstan interested in investments from Islamic countries - finance

ASTANA (Itar-Tass) - Kazakhstan is interested in investments
from Islamic countries, Kazakh Finance Minister Bolat Zhamishev said on
Monday ahead of the 38th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of
the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to open here Tuesday.
"For Kazakhstan, the development of Islamic financing is a possibility
to attract investments from the Islamic world and to develop new business
models," he said and added that currently the bulk of such investors are
banks and companies operating in Malaysia.
"Islamic banking in no way means cooperation based on the confessional
principle," he noted. "Any citizen may make use of the service of such a
structure. We have given up the idea of opening offices of traditional
banks and opted for opening separate Islamic banks, a move that makes it
easier to ensure clear regulation from the point of view of law."