ASTANA (TCA) — A Kazakhstan-Poland business forum was held in Astana on September 6 with the participation of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Polish President Andrzej Duda, who was on an official visit to Kazakhstan.
The forum gathered more than 450 representatives of Kazakh and Polish business circles. In his welcoming address to the forum participants, the President of Kazakhstan stressed the importance of developing cooperation between the two countries in the trade and economic spheres, noting the significant potential for expanding these relations, the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan reported.
Nazarbayev focused on measures taken by Kazakhstan to create a favorable investment climate and their results.
“Polish citizens in Kazakhstan are exempt from visa requirements. There are working groups on the development of cooperation in SMEs, mechanical engineering and agriculture. An important role is assigned to our intergovernmental commission,” Nazarbayev said.
The President of Kazakhstan spoke about Kazakh-Polish projects. “An example of successful partnership is the pharmaceutical company Polpharma. On the territory of the FEZ Astana New City, the company Selena Group implemented a project for the production of building materials. The plant KazTechMash launched production of agricultural machinery in Petropavlovsk using technologies of Polish Pronar. In general, there are 115 enterprises with Polish participation in Kazakhstan,” Nazarbayev said.
The President of Poland thanked Nazarbayev for the invitation to participate in the Forum. “I am grateful for the organization of an economic meeting between Kazakhstani and Polish businesses. Last year’s visit of the President of Kazakhstan [to Poland] contributed to the fact that the mutual turnover between Poland and Kazakhstan began to grow. In 2014, the trade turnover amounted to 2 billion USD, but then there was a political recession. Thanks to the participation of the President of Kazakhstan, we are beginning to return to the indicators that were back then. For the first half of 2017, the exchange grew by 50%, imports from Kazakhstan to Poland grew by 80%,” said Andrzej Duda.
He noted that Poland has a desire to increase the trade turnover with Kazakhstan in the next 6 years and bring it to the level of 6 billion USD.
The Polish President also said that in May 2017, direct flights between Warsaw and Astana were opened, and starting from 1 January 2018, a visa-free regime will be introduced for up to 30 days for Polish citizens in Kazakhstan, which will greatly facilitate visits.
