ASTANA (Interfax-Kazakhstan) — Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Finance plans to issue $300 worth of Islamic bonds on the stock exchange of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), said Kairat Kelimbetov, the managing director of AIFC.

Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) aims to be the driver of the Islamic finance development in Kazakhstan. For this, the AIFC is strengthening its capacity building by establishing the Bureau for Continuing Professional Development. AIFC managing director Yernur Rysmagambetov said two programs have been launched. One of them is aimed at the training of specialists for the banking sector. The second program is focused on literacy of the end users on Islamic finance. The corporate sector is the main customer of the Islamic banks in Kazakhstan. Attraction of the retail customers in the Islamic finance is another trend of the past years.

Kazakhstan is the only country in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) that has successful operation of the Islamic finance instruments for 10 years.