As part of the state visit of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Dushanbe on August 21, a Tajik-Kazakh investment forum was held, Asiaplus.tj reports
The forum was attended by more than 200 people, including representatives of the governments of the two countries, business structures, companies and enterprises in the fields of industry, infrastructure, communications, agriculture, and services.
The participants were offered investment projects on cooperation in agriculture, digital technologies, finance, and industry.
Following the forum, a number of commercial agreements and contracts worth about $900 million were signed, Kazinform reports with reference to the press service of the government of Kazakhstan.
First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Roman Sklyar noted in his speech that Kazakhstan and Tajikistan have significant opportunities for implementing joint projects in many areas.
He emphasized that holding this event is a clear confirmation of the intentions of the two countries to strengthen bilateral trade, economic, and investment cooperation.
Sklyar reported on the joint work carried out by the governments to expand the range of goods supplied, deepen interaction in the field of industrial cooperation, and increase mutual supplies of agricultural products.
The importance of continuing interaction between metallurgical enterprises and assistance in expanding the pool of joint agricultural projects in the field of production, processing and storage of agricultural and fruit and vegetable products for their subsequent export to third-country markets was noted.
In addition, cooperation is underway in the transport and IT sectors. At the same time, the creation of all conditions for the development of transit transportation by Kazakhstan was emphasized.
On the sidelines of the forum, bilateral meetings of representatives of the Kazakh side with the management of a number of Tajik companies were held. Specific proposals for the implementation of joint projects with the creation of production facilities for the production of high-value added products were discussed.
During the forum, the parties expressed interest in increasing trade turnover to $2 billion in the coming years.
According to the statistics department of Tajikistan, the total volume of Tajik-Kazakh trade in 2023 amounted to over $1.1 billion, which is 20.3% less than in the same period in 2022.
About 78% of bilateral trade turnover is accounted for by the supply of Kazakh goods to Tajikistan.
In the first seven months of this year, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan traded almost $777 between themselves, which is 19.8% more than in the corresponding period of 2023. The share of Kazakhstan's exports in the structure of trade with Tajikistan increased to 81.5%.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
August 22, 2024