ASTANA (TCA) — Heads of more than 30 largest Chinese companies — members of the Union of Textile Industry of the People’s Republic of China — visited Astana for the first time to study investment opportunities of Kazakhstan. The meeting with the Kazakh side, held last week, was organized with the support of Kazakh Invest National Company, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.
At the meeting, Kazakh Invest Chairman Saparbek Tuyakbaev stressed that the textile industry is a promising area with a great potential for cooperation. “In Kazakhstan, about 250,000 tons of cotton is collected annually. About a third of this volume is processed and the remaining part goes as raw materials for export. Meanwhile, we have a special economic zone Ontustik, which is located in the border region with Uzbekistan, the largest cotton producer. Taking into account the fact that according to international ratings the investment climate in Kazakhstan is the best in the Central Asian region, it is possible to develop business here and work for further export,” Tuyakbaev said.
The Union of Textile Industry of China is one of the leading federations of the country, with more than 20 million people working in its enterprises. Companies in the Union export 12% of the total export volume of the entire textile industry in China, while the total contribution to the Chinese economy is estimated at 3%.
During the meeting, members of the Chinese delegation began negotiations on cooperation in the field of cotton production, raw materials processing, clothing production, and logistics.
“This is our first visit to Kazakhstan, and the majority of members of our delegation are very interested in starting cooperation with your country. We visited Kazakhstan thanks to the invitation of Kazakh Invest. And I think that we had a very successful meeting, we learned about the investment potential. Kazakhstan and China are countries that have a common border connected by common mountains and rivers, so I am sure that we have great opportunities and great potential in this area,” said the head of the Chinese delegation, chairman of the Union of China’s textile industry Song Ruizhe.
Deputy Director General of the Representative Office of the China International Chamber of Commerce in Kazakhstan Gao Qi noted that “today’s meeting is a very good beginning for cooperation between China and Kazakhstan in the textile industry. The government creates very good conditions for investors. Therefore, after today’s talks and discussions, I think there will definitely be a good result.”
