ASTANA (TCA) — The 7th session of the Kazakh-Kyrgyz Intergovernmental Council took place on August 17 in Astana with the participation of Kazakhstan Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev and Kyrgyzstan Prime Minister Mukhammedkalyi Abylgaziev, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.
The prime ministers discussed trade and economic cooperation, further plans to expand investment cooperation and implement joint projects in transit-transport, water-energy, tourism and other spheres.
Opening the meeting, Prime Minister Sagintayev noted that mutual respect and friendly relations of the Presidents of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and of Kyrgyzstan, Sooronbai Jeenbekov, raised the relations between the two countries to a new qualitative level and allowed to strengthen friendship and mutual understanding between the two fraternal peoples.
Trade and economic relations between the two states show positive dynamics. In 2017, mutual trade increased by 13.4%, and in five months of 2018, growth was 9.8%.
“To date, 824 joint ventures operate in Kazakhstan in such areas as wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, professional, scientific and technical activities, construction, and services. In addition, in order to attract foreign investors to priority sectors of the economy, the National Company Kazakh Invest together with Deloitte prepared 50 ‘niche projects’ in which the Kyrgyz side can participate. Obviously, the plans to increase mutual trade to $1 billion are quite feasible,” the Kazakh Prime Minister said.
The meeting noted the results of the work on the implementation of the Roadmap for Bilateral Economic Cooperation, signed in Astana on December 2, 2017. Until the end of this year, it is planned to hold the first meeting of the Business Council, as well as the trade and economic mission of Kazakhstani exporters to Kyrgyzstan, Sagintayev said.
The development of regional tourist routes is another direction with significant interaction potential. A vivid example of such cooperation is the tourist routes to the Khan-Tengri Peak, running through the territories of the two countries.
The next session of the Kazakh-Kyrgyz Intergovernmental Council will be held in 2019 in Bishkek.
