The Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan, Arman Shakkaliyev addressed the 39th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Economic and Trade Cooperation (COMSEC) in Istanbul. The official opening ceremony of the event took place on December 4th with the participation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is the largest official Muslim governmental international organization, uniting 57 countries. Today, OIC countries comprise more than a quarter of the world’s population – 1.7 billion people on four continents – Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America. Over the past three years, total trade turnover between member states has increased from $3.7 trillion to $4.5 trillion. During the meeting, ministers from the participating countries discussed further efforts to strengthen cooperation, including in trade and agriculture.
Kazakhstan is actively seeking to make a significant contribution to food security. Over the past five years, the country has doubled its volume of agricultural products and exports them to more than 80 countries, working in this direction with OIC members.
“OIC countries are among the active trade and economic partners of Kazakhstan,” said Shakkaliev, addressing a report on improving the potential for trade with OIC member states. “Our trade turnover for the first nine months of 2023 amounted to $12.5 billion. Exports of Kazakhstani products to the OIC countries account for more than half of the total trade turnover – $8.4 billion. We need to combine the efforts of all members of the Organization in the development of transport and logistics infrastructure, and expansion of investment cooperation.”
