EU and Central Asia deepen trade and economic ties

On 26 June 2024, the closing meeting of the Ready4Trade (ITC) and Central Asia Invest (OECD) projects was held in Almaty.

The event was attended by Deputy Heads of State from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, representatives of public and private sector stakeholders, as well as representatives of the European Union (EU), the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The Ready4Trade project aims to develop intra-regional and international trade in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) by increasing transparency of cross-border requirements, removing regulatory and procedural barriers, and improving cross-border e-commerce. In turn, the Central Asia Invest (CAI) project aims to strengthen the investment climate and increase competitiveness in the region.

QazTrade estimates that the implementation of the recommendations proposed by the projects and the transition to paperless trade will lead to a 30 per cent increase in trade turnover in the medium term.

Vice-Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan Janel Kushukova noted:

«In recent years, significant work has been done in Central Asian countries to simplify and optimise trade procedures, reduce the time for trade operations and automate customs processes. This has allowed us to almost double the volume of trade turnover over the past five years, to $10 billion. In the medium term, Kazakhstan plans to increase trade turnover with Central Asian countries to $15 billion».

In May 2023, a trade information portal «Central Asia Gateway», was launched in Central Asian countries, which combines information from trade facilitation portals of all countries in the region and provides businesses with access to the necessary information. The project also developed an educational platform for exporters, QazTrade Academy, which offers a new coaching tool on international trade and e-commerce leads, covering all regions of Kazakhstan.

Overall, the SME support initiatives proposed by ITC under the project have been successfully integrated into the existing QazTrade incentive package for start-up exporters.