Foreign Investors' Council was established by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 1998.

Individual membership of the Council was approved by the Order of the President of Kazakhstan No. 4071 on 16 September, 1998.

At the time, 11 top executives of foreign companies and international organizations were represented in the Council:

• Mr. Charles Frank, First Vice-President, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development;
• Mr. Jan Koopman, Senior Executive Vice-President, Europe, ABN AMRO Bank;
• Mr. John Klotsche, Chairman of the Executive Committee, Baker & McKenzie;
• Mr. Frank Chapman, Executive Director, British Gas International;
• Mr. Richard Matzke, President of Chevron Overseas, Director of Chevron Corporation.
• Mr. Tessen von Heydebreck, Member of the Board of Directors, Deutsche Bank A.G;
• Mr. Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman, LHM Group (Ispat Karmet);
• Mr. Roger Munnings, Member of KPMG International Council, Managing Partner of KPMG for CIS Region;
• Mr. Hiroshi Nemichi, President and Managing Director, Mitsubishi Corporation;
• Mr. Woo Taik Chung, President, Samsung Corporation in Central Asia;
• Mr. Daniel Deru, Executive Director, Tractebel International.

The Kazakh side was then represented by:

• Mr. Nurlan Balgimbayev, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
• Mr. Uraz Dzhandosov, First Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Foreign Investments Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
• Mr. Alikhan Baymenov, Head of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
• Mr. Kadyrzhan Damitov, Chairman of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan.