President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev named nine priority areas of cooperation at the Central Asia-China summit, including trade, logistics, energy, agriculture and water resources, the press service of the President of Kazakhstan reports.
Over the years of independence, more than $23 billion of investments from China have been attracted to Kazakhstan. And the day before, the parties signed agreements worth $22 billion at the investment forum, Tokayev said. At the talks with the Chinese President, the parties agreed to increase the volume of bilateral trade to $40 billion by 2026 from the current $31 billion.
"Based on common interests," he presented priority areas for cooperation between China and Central Asia, which, according to Tokayev, require joint efforts.
The first direction he called the increase in trade. Over the past year, trade between Kazakhstan and the Central Asian countries increased by 19%, amounting to $8 billion, "in the foreseeable future" Kazakhstan plans to bring this figure to $15 billion. And trade with China by 2030 will be increased to $100 billion.
He also said that it is planned to build a second dry port on the border of Kazakhstan and China together with Chinese investment partners.
The head of state named additional opportunities for the growth of mutual trade in the field of e-commerce as the second priority area.
“Given the competitive position of the Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan proposes to use China's largest marketplaces more widely for the joint promotion of products,” Tokayev said.
The President of Kazakhstan invited all partners in Central Asia to place their goods in the customs warehouses of Kazakhstan "for logistical convenience." This will significantly reduce the time for delivery of goods to consumers from Central Asian countries to China and vice versa, Tokayev said.
“This work can be synchronized with the introduction of a unified electronic trading platform С5+Сhina”, he added.
Tokayev also considers it important to develop the transport and logistics infrastructure. He sees as an important step in this direction "the soonest opening of the third railway crossing on the Kazakh-Chinese border." In addition, the capacity of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route will be systematically increased by introducing digital solutions and modernizing infrastructure.
“Given that China is the main shipper, we consider it necessary to intensify joint efforts to ensure maximum and uninterrupted loading of the specified route,” Tokayev noted and invited Chinese partners to expand the capabilities of the ports of the Caspian Sea, digitalize their activities, as well as joint production of transport ships.
Great prospects, according to Tokayev, are also opened up by the use of the potential of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway.
All the presidents of Central Asia expressed their proposals for accelerating relations with China during their speeches at the summit.
The CA-China summit was held on May 18-19 in the Chinese city of Xi'an.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
May 19, 2023