Visit of the Minister of Transport of Latvia to Kazakhstan

May 18-19, 2023 - The Second Economic Forum "EU - Central Asia" is being held in Almaty, in which the official delegation of the Republic of Latvia, headed by the Minister of Transport Janis Vitenbergs, takes part.

The Forum is attended by prime ministers of Central Asian countries, heads of state bodies of European countries and international financial organizations, including the EBRD and EIB, as well as representatives of the business community.

The delegation of the European Union is headed by the Executive Vice President of the European Commission V. Dombrovskis.

The purpose of the Forum is to contribute to strengthening the interaction of the European Union with the countries of Central Asia in three key and priority areas: green and digital economy, improving the business environment, as well as enhancing trade and transport links.

Over the past ten years, the European Union has invested over $120 billion in Central Asia, of which 70% is in Kazakhstan. Central Asia is a growing market with almost 80 million people. The region plays an important role in providing transit traffic between Asia and Europe, as well as in supporting global energy and green development.

Forum participants discuss the most pressing issues of strengthening economic relations between the two regions. In particular, the development of trade relations between entrepreneurs, the implementation of multimodal cargo transportation, the modernization of the infrastructure of trade routes, the introduction of digital solutions in the field of commercial operations, government regulation, etc.

On the margins of the Forum, the Latvian Minister met with the heads of a number of ministries and departments of the Republic of Kazakhstan, representatives of Kazakhstani business circles. During the meetings, the parties substantively discussed the state and prospects for further development of trade and economic relations between Kazakhstan and Latvia, issues of attracting investments, transit and transport cooperation, cooperation in the field of tourism and education, as well as within the framework of projects implemented by the EU in Kazakhstan.

In addition, J. Vitenbergs, at the invitation of the management of the JSC National Company "Kazakhstan Railways", visited the Almaty branch of the LLP "Kazakhstan Railways - Freight Transportation", where he got acquainted with the activities of the enterprise and examined the fleet of rolling stock.