Nur-Sultan and Kiev are looking for ways to increase cooperation

On June 18, the 14th meeting of the Interstate Kazakh-Ukrainian Commission on Economic Cooperation was held in Kiev. The Kazakh co-chair is the Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bakhyt Sultanov. The Ukrainian co-chair is First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine Oleksiy Lyubchenko.

Opening the meeting, the parties stressed the significant potential of cooperation and mutual interest in joint comprehensive efforts to expand it. Ukraine remains one of the main trading partners of Kazakhstan. However, in the last few years, there has been a decline in the volume of mutual trade.

In this regard, the Co-Chairs of the Commission exchanged concrete initiatives to increase the volume of trade turnover. So, Bakhyt Sultanov suggested that the Ukrainian colleagues at the first stage jointly work out the issue of supplying 70 commodity items, for which Kazakh enterprises can increase non-commodity exports by $ 350 million. Only this will lead to an increase in Kazakhstan's exports by 45.5% in the near future.

- We have the opportunity to increase the supply of products from the petrochemical, metallurgical, food, chemical, machine-building industries, construction goods, - B. Sultanov said.

According to the head of the Kazakh delegation, the development of trade and economic relations would be facilitated by the opening of a Kazakh trading house in Kiev and a Ukrainian trading House in Nur-Sultan, where the best products of Kazakh and Ukrainian production would be presented.

In order to intensify mutual trade, the Kazakh side suggested that Kiev deepen cooperation through the opening of joint cooperation projects in various fields. Kazakhstan and Ukraine already have a successful experience of such cooperation in the field of mechanical engineering, industry, agriculture and the IT industry. At the same time, there is a potential for joint ventures, including for the promotion of finished products to third countries, the co-chairs of the Commission agreed.

Speaking about specific projects, the Ukrainian side expressed interest in the joint production of automotive equipment. For its part, Kazakhstan voiced its readiness to supply the Ukrainian market with Hyundai cars of Kazakhstan production and to work out in detail at the expert level the stated offer of partners.

Issues of cooperation in the field of standardization, conformity assessment and metrology, including the possibility of applying and distributing national standards of one party on the territory of the other party, were also discussed in Kiev. According to the Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bakhyt Sultanov, this would create conditions for the elimination of technical barriers to trade, contributing to the further strengthening of trade and economic cooperation between the countries.

The parties discussed the issues of Kazakh-Ukrainian cooperation in the field of transport and transit transport. Special attention was paid to the development of transit cargo transportation within the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.

The Kazakh side also suggested that the Ukrainian colleagues more actively use the opportunities of the International Center for Cross-Border Cooperation "Khorgos" to attract investment and as a platform for wholesale and retail export of Ukrainian products to China.

A separate topic of the negotiations is ensuring the synergy of cooperation in the IT sector. At the same time, the parties confirmed their intentions to start implementing a number of technological solutions in the field of public administration and medicine in a pilot mode.

Following the meeting, a number of documents were also signed:

1. Minutes of the Fourteenth Meeting of the Joint Interstate Ukrainian-Kazakh Commission on Economic Cooperation;

2. Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine and the Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan on cooperation in bilateral trade

3. Memorandum of cooperation in the field of public-private partnership between the state organization "Agency for Support of Public-Private Partnership" and the joint-stock company "Kazakhstan Center for Public-Private Partnership".

The parties agreed to hold the 15th meeting of the joint Commission in the Republic of Kazakhstan (Nur-Sultan).