ASTANA. KAZINFORM – A Kazakh-Afghan business forum is being held in Astana these days. More than 200 Afghan entrepreneurs from various sectors of the economy arrived in the capital of Kazakhstan, Kazinform correspondent reports.
The meeting was opened by Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin and Minister of Commerce and Industry of Afghanistan Nuriddin Azizi.
“Kazakhstan stands for the formation of Afghanistan as an independent, neutral, united, peaceful, democratic and prosperous state. We are interested in maintaining the existing trade, economic, transport, logistics and energy ties with Afghanistan,” the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan greeted the participants.
To improve the geo-economic situation of the country, the Afghan side proposed opening representative offices of banks in the territory of both countries, creating visa issuance points for entrepreneurs, holding business meetings, exhibitions and conferences, reducing the time for transporting goods to Kazakhstan and eliminating existing barriers to trade and transit from the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Export of flour and grain from Kazakhstan to Afghanistan
Kazakhstan announced its intention to maintain and increase the volume of flour supplies to Afghanistan. Afghanistan is the dominant flour market, accounting for 70% of total exports.
Almost all deliveries of Kazakh flour to Afghanistan go through the territory of Uzbekistan. For 4 months of 2023, more than 450 thousand tons of flour worth $150.8 million were sent to Afghanistan through the territory of Uzbekistan.
Therefore, work has begun to expand the possibilities of transit transportation to Afghanistan to increase exports and saturate the Afghan market with a sufficient volume of goods. An agreement was reached on a 30% discount on the transit of goods through the territory of Turkmenistan in the direction of Afghanistan. Strengthened agreements with Uzbekistan to provide preferential terms for transit transportation through the territories of the two countries, for parity supplies of flour and grain to Afghanistan.
Diversity of Kazakhstan’s export basket
The Kazakh side notes a trend towards diversification of the export basket. According to the estimates of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan can send $500 million worth of food, petrochemical, chemical, metallurgical, light, machine-building industries to Afghanistan.
Development of trade
Trade between the countries for 6 months of this year amounted to 343.6 million dollars. Of these, 334.5 million dollars belongs to Kazakhstani exports. In April of this year, the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan initiated the opening of a trading house of Kazakhstan in Afghanistan. During the business forum, the Kazakh side announced its readiness to launch a similar project in Almaty together with Afghan manufacturers.
In turn, the Afghan authorities asked Kazakhstan for a reduced tariff on Afghan goods exported to our country.
Mutual investments
Since 2005, the total volume of investments from Afghanistan into the economy of Kazakhstan amounted to about 11.7 million dollars. The number of joint ventures operating in the field of trade in Kazakhstan is 52 enterprises.
For its part, Afghanistan has stated that it is considering the possibility of providing numerous tax incentives for investors.
“I sincerely ask and invite respected investors to invest in Afghanistan with full confidence,” Minister of Commerce Nuriddin Azizi addressed the meeting participants.
According to him , there are investment opportunities in mining, industry, agriculture, trade and services.
Cooperation in the field of communications
National telecom operators Kazakhtelecom and Afghan Telecom signed a cooperation agreement.
According to the head of the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Kazakhstan, operators have significant potential for consolidating technical capabilities and moving to a new level of cooperation through the transit of traffic through Afghanistan to other countries.
Grants for students from Afghanistan
This year, Kazakhstan is ready to allocate 30 grants for students from Afghanistan. Today , more than 450 Afghan students study in Kazakhstan .
Contracts for 190 million dollars
At the Kazakh-Afghan business forum in Astana, export contracts were signed for a total of $190.8 million. As a result of the meeting, 15 contracts for the supply of agricultural products, flour and vegetable oil, as well as a memorandum of cooperation between the National Association of Oilseed Processors (Kazakhstan) and the Balkh Union of Oil Dealers (Afghanistan) were signed. The largest number of documents (9 contracts) falls on the supply of oil.
/// This is cross post from Kazinform — Originally published at https://www.inform.kz/ru/o-chem-dogovorilis-kazahstan-i-afganistan-na-vstreche-v-astane_a4097334
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