ASTANA (TCA) — The Kazakhstan-Canadian Business Council has been established by the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan, the Chamber of Commerce of Kazakhstan, and the Canadian Business Association in Russia and Eurasia (CERBA), Atameken reported on May 30.
“For Kazakhstan, Canada is a promising and priority area of cooperation. We hope that Canadian investment will be injected in the manufacturing sector, so that we can develop jointly the production, for example, of agricultural machinery. Here I think there is a great potential. And we would like to see in the future producers of co-produced components and spare parts to have the opportunity to participate in the production processes of Canadian businesses,” said Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce of Kazakhstan Ruslan Sultanov.
Today Kazakhstan is the main trading partner of Canada among the post-Soviet states. The volume of bilateral trade in 2012-2014 amounted to more than $7 billion. Kazakhstan was included in the list of priority countries in the Global Plan of Action in foreign markets, adopted by the Federal Government of Canada in 2013.
Canada remains one of the top ten largest investors in Kazakhstan’s economy. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development of Canada, in 1994-2013, Canadian investments in Kazakhstan amounted to almost $16 billion.
Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Canada Konstantin Zhigalov urged businessmen of the two countries to develop cooperation not only in traditional sectors such as mining, the oil industry and agriculture, but also to diversify the business partnership of Kazakhstan and Canada. As a positive example, he mentioned Magnum Integrated Technologies, which has invested more than $50 million in construction of the first ammunition plant in Kazakhstan.
The first meeting of the Kazakh-Canadian Business Council was attended by representatives of more than 30 leading companies and economic organizations in Canada that are interested in investment, technology transfer and cooperation in such sectors as construction, renewable energy, transport, infrastructure, agriculture, and energy sector.
