NUR-SULTAN (TCA) — During his working visit to Turkey on November 10-11, Kazakhstan Prime Minister Askar Mamin held negotiations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vice President Fuat Oktay, attended the XI meeting of the Kazakhstan-Turkey Intergovernmental Economic Commission and the opening of a bilateral business forum, and also met with the captains of Turkish business, the press service of the Kazakh Prime Minister reported.
“Cooperation between our countries is developing dynamically in all areas, the foundation has been laid for bringing bilateral relations to a qualitatively new level. The first President of Kazakhstan – Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev and the Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev consider Turkey as one of the key and strategic partners of Kazakhstan,” Mamin said at a meeting with Erdogan in Ankara.
Over 4,200 companies with Turkish capital are registered in Kazakhstan, which are widely represented in the energy, transport, agro-industrial, engineering sectors, infrastructure construction and other areas. According to the results of 9 months of 2019 bilateral trade reached $2.3 billion, which is 68% more than in the same period in 2018. By the end of this year bilateral trade is expected to exceed $3 billion. Currently, the pool of investment projects being developed and implemented jointly with the Turkish side exceeds $6 billion.
In Istanbul, Prime Minister Mamin, together with the Vice-President of Turkey Fuat Oktay, participated in the XI meeting of the Kazakh-Turkish Intergovernmental Economic Commission.
As a result of the event, a Joint Action Plan was adopted, consisting of 65 paragraphs in such areas as trade and investment, industry, transport, education, healthcare, and tourism. In addition, an intergovernmental agreement on international combined transportation of goods and an action protocol for joint economic program “the New Synergy” for 2019-2021 were signed.
Mamin and Oktay opened the Kazakh-Turkish business forum on November 10 with the participation of about 500 Turkish and 100 Kazakh business representatives. During the forum, 18 documents were signed for a total amount of $1.5 billion, providing for the implementation of joint projects in infrastructure, industrial, transport and logistics, healthcare, the exchange of experience in public-private partnerships, the development of the financial market, etc.
In particular, agreements were reached on opening in Kazakhstan the production of corrugated cardboard packaging, paint and varnish products, the Aktobe-Gebze industrial zone, the infrastructural development of the city of Turkistan, as well as the construction of university clinics in Almaty and Karaganda, multidisciplinary hospitals in Kokshetau, Kyzylorda, Aktau, Atyrau, Aktobe, Taraz, diagnostic centers in Shymkent and Aktobe.
The Prime Minister of Kazakhstan met with the leaders of 41 largest Turkish companies — current and potential investors in the economy of Kazakhstan. Askar Mamin held both bilateral negotiations with the captains of Turkish business, as well as a general meeting in the format of a round table. The head of the Kazakh government called on Turkish businessmen to contribute to the revival and development of the ancient Kazakh city of Turkistan as a cultural and spiritual center of the Turkic world.
