Belgian businesses interested in expanding cooperation with Kazakhstan

Nur-Sultan, Almaty – In order to expand trade and investment cooperation between Kazakhstan and Belgium, with the support of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Belgium, a multisectorial trade mission of Belgian companies to Kazakhstan took place. The Belgian delegation was headed by the Director General of the Wallonia Export and Investment Agency «AWEX» Chantal De Bleu.

The organizer of the visit of the Belgian entrepreneurs was the Trade and Economic Representation of Belgium in Kazakhstan «AWEX Almaty», representing the interests of three regions of Belgium – Wallonia, Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region.

The delegation included 11 Walloon and Flemish companies in the fields of transport, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, road transport, industry and chemistry. Among them are «Ahlers», «CARAH», «John Cockerill», «Solvay», «Hydrometal», etc. During the three-day visit, Belgian enterprises held a number of B2B negotiations with Kazakh companies, as well as meetings with representatives of akimats in Nur-Sultan and Almaty, the Ministries of Industry and Infrastructure Development, Agriculture, Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as JSC NC KTZH, Kazakh National Agrarian Research University (KazNAIU) and Almaty Technological University.

A particular interest was expressed in agriculture. So, in order to develop the agricultural sector and introduce new agricultural technologies in Kazakhstan to increase the potato yield, the Belgian Center for Agronomy and Agroindustry of the Hainaut Province «CARAH», the Union of Potato and Vegetable Growers of Kazakhstan and the «Institute of Plant Biology and Biotechnology» of the Science Committee of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan signed a Memorandum of Cooperation.

The economic mission of Belgian enterprises to Kazakhstan is organized every two years. The last such mission took place in June 2019 with the participation of 21 enterprises.

During the business mission of Belgian enterprises in Kazakhstan, the Embassy of Kazakhstan, together with JSC NC «Kazakh Invest», within the framework of the visit of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan K. Tokayev to the EU, organized in Brussels a round table «Kazakhstan - Belgium - Luxembourg: prospects for trade, economic and investment cooperation», which was attended by about 20 Belgian and Luxembourg companies.