Germany's METRO Group is making plans to open its first Metro Cash & Carry wholesale store in Kazakhstan in the summer of 2009. The Group officially agreed to the investment with the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Wednesday, a move which will extend METRO's activities to 33 countries.

"With its rapid economic growth and in particular the swift development in the hotel, gastronomic and service sector, Kazakhstan offers great potential for our self-service wholesale business", said Frans W. H. Muller, member of the management board of METRO Group and CEO of Metro Cash & Carry International.

Kazakhstan’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Vladimir Sergeevich Shkolnik, said the step underlined the dynamic economic development of the country.

If land-plots and necessary licences can be secured, Metro Cash & Carry hopes to open 10 to 15 wholesale stores, with the first being operational in the summer of 2009 in the capital city, Astana.

Each store will require an investment of about €15 – 20 million and will employs more than 250 people from the local community. In addition, the national head office will create over 100 new jobs.

In May of this year the METRO Group also annouced it was to open Cash & Carry stores in Egypt.

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