Kazakhstan and EU delegations discuss trade cooperation

Kazakhstan and the European Union discussed trade cooperation and economic partnership at the 5^th Meeting of the Cooperation Committee In Trade Configuration (CCTC).

The CCTC was established following the signing of the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Kazakhstan and the EU (EPCA), aimed at the expansion of trade-economic and investment cooperation. The committee offers an efficient dialogue platform to discuss approaches and the implementation of trade policies and standards.

Kairat Torebayev, Vice Minister for Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan, and Timo Hammeren, Deputy Head of the Central Asia Unit at the DG TRADE, the European Commission, co-chaired the meeting.

The parties discussed the issues of trade and investment cooperation, implementation of the trade section of the EPCA, implementation of the Central Asia Investment Program and Ready4Trade Central Asia projects, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, industrial grants, public procurement, removal of Kazakhstan from the grey list as well as recent developments in the WTO.

During the visit to Brussels, Vice-Minister Torebayev met with the TG TRADE representatives, the Agency for Trade and Investment Promotion, AWEX, as well as the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Brussels.

The EU is one of the key trade and investment partners of Kazakhstan. The trade with the EU countries accounts for 1/3 of Kazakhstan's total trade turnover, 38.5% of Kazakhstan's exports go to the EU countries.

In 2021, the Kazakhstan-EU trade turnover increased by 21.4% (28.9 billion USD), with exports amounting to 23.3 billion USD, and imports to 5.7 billion USD.

Kazakhstan plans to expand its trade relations with the EU by adding 140 manufactured products worth 1.5 billion USD into its exports list.