Kazakh delegation holds trade and economic talks in Bishkek

On behalf of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the government delegation headed by the Minister of Trade and Integration Bakhyt Sultanov held a number of meetings with the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Issues of trade and economic cooperation were discussed at the talks with Deputy Prime Minister-Minister of Economy and Finance of the Kyrgyz Republic Ulukbek Karmyshakov.

"The agreements reached during the first official visit of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic to Kazakhstan in early March defined the horizons for further development of cooperation between our countries. We are determined to work constructively together to develop and implement new initiatives of mutual interest, " head of the Kazakh delegation Bakhyt Sultanov said.

The parties noted the need to consolidate efforts to restore the volume of mutual trade, which was reduced as a result of quarantine bans in 2020, and to further increase the trade turnover to $1 billion. in the near future.

"We consider the task of increasing trade turnover feasible in the short term," the head of the Kazakh delegation said.

Minister Sultanov presented the Kyrgyz side with a list of 190 commodity items worth more than $ 230 million in such industries as mechanical engineering, metallurgy, food industry, construction materials, chemical products and others.

In particular, the Bishkek City Hall is currently interested in purchasing special equipment and buses. Kazakhstan, as a country that already exports automotive products to the Kyrgyz market, is ready to supply Bishkek with the required batches of vehicles and buses (produced by SaryarkaAvtoProm LLP).

In addition, Kazakhstan expressed interest in resuming negotiations on the supply of Airbus light helicopters with the possibility of installing medical equipment for the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Kyrgyzstan. (The corresponding memorandum of partnership between the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Kyrgyz Republic and Eurocopter Kazakhstan Engineering LLP and consideration of the possibility of purchasing aviation equipment and conducting training for flight personnel was signed in 2018).Industrial cooperation provides great opportunities for increasing trade turnover.

The Kazakh delegation suggested that Bishkek "start substantive work to create joint ventures for the production and processing of fruits and vegetables, dairy products", as well as expand the functionality of the future Trade and Logistics center, providing for the possibility of creating industrial cooperation facilities.

At the same time, the synchronization of the commodity flows of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan will allow the two countries to saturate their own markets during the off-season and ensure an unhindered flow of goods when exporting to the markets of third countries.

An important topic of the talks was the barriers to mutual trade that hinder the expansion of trade.

In particular, the application by the Kyrgyz side of the mechanism of the "minimum level of control prices" (MCC) for goods imported from the territories of the EAEU member States. The MCC was classified as a barrier by the decision of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission. This mechanism serves as a significant barrier to achieving the goal set by the heads of the two states to increase trade turnover to $1 billion, since it puts the goods of traditional Kazakh exports in unequal conditions on the market.

For reference: the mechanism of the MCC applies to: coal, Portland cement and food (flour, sugar, rice, crushed rice, egg, beer, butter margarine pasta, sunflower oil, buckwheat).

Bakhyt Sultanov called on the Kyrgyz side to comply with the rules of the Eurasian Economic Union and take measures to eliminate this barrier in the near future.

The Kazakh delegation also raised the issue of trade in certain types of goods (hides and wool, scrap of ferrous and non-ferrous metals and products made from them), for which the Republic of Kazakhstan has export duties or restrictions on exports to third countries.

The parties agreed to include these issues in the agenda of the next meeting of the Kazakh-Kyrgyz Intergovernmental Council (IPU), which is scheduled for early April.
The Co-Chairs of the IPU (the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan is the Co-Chair of the IPU from the Kazakh side, and the Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic from the Kyrgyz side) will also take part in the grand opening of the reconstructed Kordai-Akzhol checkpoint.»

For reference: the reconstruction of the Kordai railway station will increase passenger traffic from 6 thousand to 25 thousand people and vehicles from 1 thousand to 2.5 thousand per day. It will also play a positive role in increasing cross-border trade between the two countries.