Australia is interested in building up trade and economic cooperation with Kazakhstan
Australia views Kazakhstan as an important and reliable partner in a strategically promising region and is ready to expand trade, economic, scientific, technical, and investment cooperation. This is the key note of the meetings between Director of the Department of the Asia-Pacific Region of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nurgali Arystanov and the First Assistant Secretary for North and South Asia of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Australia Gary Cowan.
Another round of online consultations between the foreign ministries of Kazakhstan and Australia took place on April 14 of this year. The parties discussed the current state and prospects for expanding Kazakhsatn-Australian cooperation in the political, trade, economic, cultural, and humanitarian spheres, emphasizing the positive dynamics of interaction that have emerged in recent years.
In addition, the diplomats noted the quality of the dialogue within the framework of international and regional organizations that is outlined in mutual support of the foreign policy initiatives of the two states. A thorough exchange of views on topical international problems revealed the similarity of the positions of Kazakhstan and Australia. In particular, they discussed coordinating efforts to help with resolving issues and conflict situations in Afghanistan.
G.Cowan expressed Canberra's readiness to provide further support to the initiatives of our country in the international arena.
An important topic of the discussion was the intensification of interaction within the framework of economic diplomacy. The heads of delegations noted the importance of expanding cooperation in the mining and processing industry, agriculture, development of alternative energy, information technology, innovation, medicine, education and tourism. It was emphasized that joint work in this area requires expanding the legal framework and intensifying the negotiation process to develop new agreements in priority sectors.
From 2005 to 2020 the inflow of investments from Australia to Kazakhstan reached $ 25 million. Trade turnover for 2020 amounted to $ 47 million. A number of Australian companies are successfully operating in Kazakhstan in such sectors as exploration and mining, agriculture, construction, explosives production and others.
Despite the impact of COVID-19, the largest Australian companies continue to actively enter the Kazakhstan market, such as Fortescue (MMC) and Cedar Meat (agriculture), total investments of which in the Kazakh economy in the next 2-3 years will amount to more than USD 55 million.