TCA
ASTANA (TCA) — The Government of Kazakhstan on September 12 approved the draft of a new Tax Code, which is aimed at encouraging the growth of SMEs and strengthening the financial sector, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reports.
TCA
ASTANA (TCA) — The first Interregional Cooperation Forum of Kazakhstan and China took place in the city of Nanning (China) on September 11-12 with the participation of the First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin and Vice Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Zhang Gaoli, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.
The forum gathered governors of Kazakhstan’s and China’s provinces and representatives of companies and the business communities of both countries.
“The forum organized at the initiative of the heads of our states will give a new impetus to strengthening friendship, good-neighborly relations and strategic partnership between our countries,” Askar Mamin said, noting “the importance of the Forum as a unique platform for bilateral dialogue and effective consultations on actual issues of interregional cooperation of Kazakhstan and China.”
The First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan noted the timeliness of the Forum in the context of linking Kazakhstan’s Nurly Zhol economic program with China’s One Belt, One Road Initiative.
“The initiative of the Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev to link the Economic Belt of the Silk Road with the Nurly Zhol program allowed attracting investments and coordinating the actions of the two countries on infrastructure projects,” Mamin noted.
Mamin called the Cross-border Cooperation Program between Kazakhstan and China for 2015-2020, signed in December 2015, “one of the most important documents of cooperation between the border regions of Kazakhstan and China.”
Within the framework of the Interregional Cooperation Forum, the Chairman of the Kazakh meat processing company Batys Mark Lamb, Rakhimzhan Ismagambetov, and the Chairman of the Chinese company Zheng & Agrotechnology Co. Ltd. Li Xianming signed a Memorandum on the establishment of a modern feeding site for 30 thousand sheep for slaughter and export of mutton to China. The volume of Chinese investments will make $47 million. The project will be implemented in 2018.
Also, Chairman of the Board of Kazakh Invest national company Maksat Kabashev and the head of Silver Tiger Capital Cui Lunfei signed a framework agreement on cooperation to create a joint investment fund with a capitalization of $250 million.
TCA
BISHKEK (TCA) — A court in Kyrgyzstan has found a journalist guilty of inciting religious hatred in a book, and sentenced him to four years in prison, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reports.
TCA
ASTANA (TCA) — The transport and logistics capabilities of Kazakhstan, which is located at the intersection of international transport corridors of Eurasia, were presented by Kanat Alpysbaev, the head of Kazakhstan’s national railways company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), at the international сonference “Integrated Transport Corridors Europe-Asia” in Odessa, Ukraine late last week, KTZ’s press office reported.
EurasiaNet
TASHKENT (TCA) — Turkish businesses that faced troubles in Uzbekistan under President Karimov have begun returning to the Uzbek market under the new President Mirziyoyev, who appears to have pursued a thaw in relations with Ankara. Mirziyoyev’s planned visit to Turkey in October may become a breakthrough in bilateral relations. We are republishing this article on the issue, originally published by EurasiaNet.org:
TCA
KABUL (TCA) — The shipment of goods to Afghanistan by rail from China stopped three months ago due to the lack of infrastructure at the Afghan port on the Uzbek border and the absence of trade and transit agreements with Uzbekistan, TOLOnews agency reports.
Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) on September 11 said that the rail route stopped after the Chinese company involved suspended its operations.
But the Afghan Ministry of Commerce and Industries has expressed hope that with the signing of trade and transit agreements with Uzbekistan, Afghanistan will be able to remove obstacles in the way of its commercial relations with China regarding the railway line.
“Over the past three months we received no imported goods. When we consulted the companies, they pointed out the issues around transit facilities and the lack of infrastructure for loading and unloading and a subsidy issue,” said Atiqullah Nusrat, CEO of ACCI.
According to the ACCI, the lack of infrastructure at Hairatan Port was cited as one of the key reasons for the Chinese company suspending its operations.
Initially the Chinese government said it would subsidize a company to take responsibility of transporting goods to Afghanistan by rail. However, the company reportedly stopped its operations after the Chinese government suspended its subsidy.
“The work has been done on the draft package from Afghanistan’s side, the draft has been sent to Uzbekistan, an agreement will be signed in the near future; maybe during the tour of the [Afghan] president to Uzbekistan or the trip of high level officials from Uzbekistan to Afghanistan. The transit agreement with Uzbekistan will help us to get connected to Kazakhstan and onward to China,” said Musafir Qoqandi, spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Commerce and Industries.
ACCI says that by road, goods take two months to get between China and Afghanistan but with the railway route the time is cut to only twelve days.
Last year the first Chinese cargo train arrived in the northern Afghan port city of Hairatan on the border with Uzbekistan. The move was part of an initiative Afghan officials in Kabul hoped would boost the national economy.
