The Ministry of trade of Kazakhstan hosted a meeting of Minister Bakhyt Sultanov with the Minister of trade of Singapore, Mr. Ko Po Kun

On February 3, 2020, Minister of trade and integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bakhyt Sultanov met With senior state Minister for trade and industry, Senior state Minister for national development of Singapore, Mr. Ko Po Kun.
The meeting was held in a warm and friendly atmosphere, and issues of the current state of Affairs and prospects for the development of bilateral trade and economic cooperation were discussed.
During the meeting, Minister B. Sultanov noted that despite the growth of trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Singapore in 2018 to $ 522.4 million, there is a reduction in trade volumes to $ 277.7 million in the first 11 months of 2019.
In order to further diversify the structure of mutual trade between Kazakhstan and Singapore, the Minister of trade and integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan proposed to exchange lists of non-raw materials that have export potential in the countries for distribution to potential consumers and establishing direct contacts between entrepreneurs of the two countries.
- For our part, we are ready to act as a kind of "guide" between our businessmen in order to organize the process of cooperation-the Minister of trade suggested.
During the meeting, the parties discussed issues of trade in services. Bakhyt Sultanov noted that Singapore has extensive experience in developing the service sector in various areas and suggested continuing active cooperation, in particular in the field of financial services with the AIFC.
The parties positively assessed the process of negotiations on concluding Agreement on trade in services and investment between Kazakhstan and the Republic of Singapore and expressed interest to complete the approval process before the upcoming visit of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan K. K. Tokayev in Singapore in October this year.
- Experts are actively working on the draft Agreement, and we can already state that 80% of the draft Agreement has already been agreed by us. I suggest not to slow down the high pace and complete the approval process in the same constructive way. The signing of the Agreement is aimed at strengthening trade and economic cooperation between Kazakhstan and Singapore and should give a new impetus to the development of relations between our countries, Minister of trade and integration B. Sultanov said.
The parties also discussed the development of cooperation in the field of transport corridors and noted the great potential in this area. Given its geographical location, Kazakhstan has every opportunity to act as a land hub in the direction of Europe, the Persian Gulf And Central Asia. In this regard, the parties agreed to explore the possibilities of cooperation in connecting the land port of Khorgos with the sea port of Singapore.
At the end of the meeting, Minister B. Sultanov thanked for the informative conversation and, as the host country of the 12th WTO Ministerial conference, invited Mr. Ko Po kun to participate in the upcoming conference on June 8-11 this year in Nur Sultan.