Olzhas Bektenov discusses investment cooperation with ADB head and representatives of CAREC countries
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On behalf of the Head of State, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov took part in the 23rd Ministerial Conference of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Programme (CAREC), held in Astana under the chairmanship of Kazakhstan. The goal is to expand interaction among the Programme's member countries and international financial institutions in shaping the integrated and sustainable development of the Central Asian region, primeminister.kz reports.
The CAREC Program is an initiative of the Asian Development Bank and is implemented in partnership with leading international financial institutions. The conference was attended by Asian Development Bank President Masatsugu Asakawa, CAREC Institute Director Kabir Jurazoda, European Commission Director for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific Péteris Ustubes, representatives of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Islamic Development Bank, and other financial institutions, as well as government delegations from South Korea, Japan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
Interaction of the states in the field of economic and financial stability, infrastructure development, trade, energy, water resources, decarbonisation, etc. was discussed.
Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov noted the relevance of the Programme for the Central Asian region. For more than 20 years, about $51 billion has been invested in the region, of which over $9 billion has been directed to projects in Kazakhstan.
We will continue to work closely with international financial institutions and CAREC member countries to achieve common objectives. We aim to develop the agro-industrial complex with a focus on deep processing and increasing the share of processed products, actively changing the structure of exports and increasing their volumes. We are also interested in implementing large-scale infrastructure projects to ensure transport connectivity and energy sustainability of the Central Asian states. I urge the countries of the region and international financial organisations to join efforts to implement joint projects," Olzhas Bektenov stressed.
In turn, President of the Asian Development Bank Masatsugu Asakawa noted that CAREC sees taking decisive action to combat climate change, building a sustainable infrastructure with early warning systems, as well as the development of digital transformation and innovation among the priorities.
The conference focused on initiatives aimed at developing human capital and improving the quality of life of the population.
At the end, an agreement on the CAREC Climate and Sustainable Development Project Preparation Facility was signed.
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Kazakh PM holds operational meeting over situation in Ukraine
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Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov held an operational meeting today to fulfill the tasks of the Head of State to take urgent measures in order to ensure security at the key military and civilian objects over the situation in Ukraine involving the Defence, Interior, Emergencies, Foreign Affairs, Healthcare, Transport, Energy, Industry and Construction, National Economy, and Finance Ministries, Kazinform news Agency learnt from the Government’s press service.
Kazakh Defence Minister Ruslan Zhaksylykov reported on the work to ensure the protection of the strategic and infrastructure objects. The Prime Minister set tasks to enhance the work of state bodies. Maintenance of stability, law and order, transport communication and critical infrastructure safety were prioritized at the meeting.
The Prime Minister assigned authorities to keep the execution of the Kazakh President’s tasks under control, to ensure security and to report on developments.
As earlier reported, Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev gave the Prime Minister, the head of the Presidential Administration, heads of national security, defence and law enforcement agencies, and governors a task to take urgent measures to ensure the security of the basic military and civilian objects over the escalation of the situation in Ukraine.
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Prime Ministers of Kazakhstan and Belarus discuss trade and economic cooperation issues
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Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov and Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko held talks in Minsk. They discussed the implementation of agreements reached at the level of the Heads of State on the development of trade and economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation. Attention was paid to industrial cooperation, agriculture with emphasis on projects on deep processing of wheat, construction industry, transport, IT-sector, tourism, primeminister.kz reports.
The volume of mutual trade between Kazakhstan and Belarus for 8 months of this year amounted to $600 million. Flour products from Kazakhstan (10.2% share in exports), etc. are in demand in the Belarusian market. Positive dynamics is also observed in the sphere of road transport: for 9 months of this year the volumes increased by 19% and reached 450.6 thousand tonnes.
The governments of Kazakhstan and Belarus are working together to develop industrial cooperation. The total pool includes 14 projects worth $277.5 million with the creation of 1.8 thousand jobs. Of these, 11 joint ventures have already been launched in the regions of Kazakhstan for more than $200 million and 1.6 thousand jobs have been created. The factories assemble tractors, grain and forage harvesters, and trailed agricultural machinery. Three more projects are under implementation.
Special attention was paid to the export potential of Kazakhstani companies that manufacture railway products and have an opportunity to supply to Belarus the fasteners of sleepers with rails, fitting platforms, railway wheels, units and assemblies.
The talks resulted in the signing of a number of bilateral documents, including: Roadmap between the governments of Kazakhstan and Belarus on the development of trade and economic cooperation for 2025-2029, aimed at replenishing the pool of joint projects and establishing closer ties between the business community; Agreement on cooperation between JSC NC Kazakh Tourism and the National Agency for Tourism of the Republic of Belarus, providing for the exchange of experience in the field of ecological, skiing, rural, medical and children's tourism; Plan of measures for interaction in the field of cultural and humanitarian cooperation n
A visit to the Hi-Tech Park was also held in Minsk, where Olzhas Bektenov was presented digital projects being implemented in the areas of cloud technologies, cyber security, financial sector, etc.
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President Tokayev arrives at Baku Olympic Stadium to attend COP29 World Climate Action Summit
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President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has arrived at the Baku Olympic Stadium to participate in the COP29 World Climate Action Summit, Kazinform News Agency learned from the Akorda press service.
The Head of State was greeted by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and UN Secretary General António Guterres.
The Kazakh President will be the first to address the plenary session of the COP29 Summit, the press service of Akorda notes.
Recall that Kassym-Jomart Tokayev arrived in Baku on November 11 for a working visit, to participate in the COP29 World Climate Action Summit ongoing under the aegis of the UN Climate Change Conference.
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Olzhas Bektenov takes part in VII China International Import Expo opening in Shanghai
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Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov took part in the opening ceremony of the VII China International Import Expo in Shanghai. The purpose of the annual multi-sectoral event is to strengthen economic integration at the international level. Participation in the exhibition creates new opportunities for expanding trade and economic relations with foreign partners and introducing national products to international markets, primeminister.kz reports.
The opening ceremony of the international exhibition was also attended by Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Li Qiang, Prime Ministers of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim, Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov, Mongolia Luvsannamsrai OYUN-ERDENE, Serbia Miloš Vučević.
Last year, Kazakhstan accounted for more than half of China's trade turnover with Central Asian countries.
Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov in his speech noted the importance of strengthening cooperation between states in the development of barrier-free trade, e-commerce, transport and logistics, the introduction of advanced AI technologies.
It is promising to strengthen co-operation in the creation of a pilot zone "Silk Road E-Commerce". Kazakhstan's pavilions are already successfully operating on the largest trading platforms Alibaba and JD. com, work is underway to open a pavilion on the Douyin platform, to build bonded warehouses and integrated warehousing infrastructure in Kazakhstan to simplify logistics through digital trade channels. Kazakhstan covers more than 80% of land transport from China to Europe. Major infrastructure projects such as the Western Europe-Western China international transit road corridor, a logistics centre in the port of Lianyungang, a cargo terminal in the dry port of Xi'an, a third railway checkpoint on the border with China, etc., aimed at improving the system of transcontinental economic corridors, increasing trade turnover and improving the welfare of the countries' populations, are being implemented.
In the field of digitalisation, the Republic of Kazakhstan ranks 24th on the e-government development index, 10th on online services, and 6th on the government technology maturity index according to the World Bank rating. The exchange of experience on the application of artificial intelligence can become a driving force for economic progress, Olzhas Bektenov emphasised.
Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Li Qiang and heads of delegations of the countries participating in the international exhibition got acquainted with the products presented at the National Pavilion of Kazakhstan "New Era, Common Future", focused on the theme of digitalisation. The country's achievements, including the development of electronic and financial services, cross-border trade, and investment attraction, were presented by Minister of Trade and Integration Arman Shakkaliyev, representatives of National Information Technologies JSC, Kazakh Invest, IFCA, QazTrade, and Kaspi. kz. In addition, startups of Kazakhstani developers were demonstrated, such as: Squares is a service that allows you to quickly find and book a location anywhere in the world; Alaqan AI is a new solution in the field of biometric identification of individuals by the pattern of veins in the palm of the hand; Cerebra AI is the development of diagnostic software based on artificial intelligence to detect stroke and others.
In the commercial pavilion of Kazakhstan, online sales of domestic products became an innovation this year. On the area of 260 m2 the exhibition of goods of about 50 Kazakhstani producers was organised: meat, dairy, oil and fat, grain products, confectionery, juices and drinks, honey, textiles and many others. Streaming through the TikTok platform has been launched, which allows not only visitors to the stand, but also viewers around the world to familiarise themselves with the range of goods and purchase them in real time. Only during the first hours of the exhibition online Kazakhstani goods were sold for about $22 thousand. Also, the pavilion was doubled in size this year, more than 80% of the exhibitors are SMEs. More than 300 thousand Chinese professional buyers visit the international exhibition every year, which creates conditions for increasing exports to China.
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Olzhas Bektenov meets with Li Qiang, Premier of the State Council of China, on trade and economic cooperation issues
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Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov discussed with the Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Li Qiang the development of trade and economic relations within the framework of the tasks set at the level of Heads of State. They discussed measures to strengthen cooperation in trade, investment, transport and logistics, agriculture, energy, tourism, as well as the expansion of cultural and humanitarian ties, primeminister.kz reports.
The parties positively assessed the dynamics of cooperation between Kazakhstan and China on a wide range of issues. In January-September this year, the volume of bilateral trade totalled $33bn.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev pays special attention to the development of cooperation with China, our largest trading partner. The state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Kazakhstan has given an additional impetus to Kazakhstan-China co-operation in another era of "golden 30th anniversary". In accordance with the task set at the highest level, we intend to increase mutual trade turnover in the near future. The Government of Kazakhstan is ready to develop full-scale and mutually beneficial cooperation with China across the entire spectrum of interaction," Olzhas Bektenov noted.
The head of the Government stressed that Kazakhstan is ready to increase the scale and optimise the structure of trade, including at the expense of value-added products. We are talking about 180 commodity items worth $1.6 billion. There is a possibility of increasing supplies of products of metallurgical, petrochemical, food, engineering and construction industries.
An important component in Kazakhstan-China relations is co-operation in agriculture. According to the results of 9 months of this year, mutual trade in the sphere of agro-industrial complex increased by 5.8%, which indicates the demand for Kazakhstani organic and environmentally friendly agricultural products from Chinese citizens. In this regard, discussed the possibility of not only expanding the export of Kazakh grain, crop and livestock products, but also accreditation for supplies to the Chinese market new Kazakh enterprises for the production of wheat and barley feed flour, wheat bran, wheat, oilseed crops, etc., as well as the possibility of increasing exports of Kazakh grain, crop and livestock products. Also noted the importance of increasing the acceptance of goods transported by all types of railway wagons.
Prime Minister of Kazakhstan and Premier of the State Council of China discussed issues of strengthening cooperation in the transport and logistics sector. Over 80% of land transportations from China to Europe today are carried out through Kazakhstan. In this context, Kazakhstan is interested in deepening cooperation within the framework of the implementation of the One Belt, One Road initiative. Olzhas Bektenov noted that the globally important project together with the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, running through the territory of Kazakhstan, can unlock the potential of the North-South and East-West corridors. In the first 9 months of this year, the volume of traffic along the Middle Corridor exceeded the previous year's figures by 23% and amounted to 3.4 million tonnes. It is planned to increase cargo traffic to 10 million tonnes per year by 2030.
In the field of container transportations, as a result of the opening of the Kazakh logistics centre in Xi'an, transit transportations along the China - Europe - China route increased 24 times and reached 24 thousand TEU. In October this year, in cooperation with Lianyungang Port, construction of a container hub in the port of Aktau began. The project will increase the capacity of the port of Aktau on container TFE transshipment up to 300 thousand TEU per year. Also the issues of acceleration of customs processes against the background of 60% increase in the volume of cargo transportation by road transport were discussed. Currently work is underway to open new checkpoints in Almaty and East Kazakhstan regions.
In turn, Premier of the State Council of China Li Qiang noted that China intends to continue to follow the course taken by the leaders of the countries to deepen the Kazakh-Chinese strategic partnership.
China and Kazakhstan are long-time friendly neighbours, we are connected by a common border of over 1,700 kilometres. In the 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, our countries have built mutually beneficial cooperation on the basis of good neighbourliness, friendship, respect and equality. Under the strategic leadership of the Heads of State, our relations have gained a new breath in recent years, reaching a high level of stable and comprehensive strategic partnership," Li Qiang said.
The two sides reaffirmed their intentions to ensure the progressive development of investment and trade and economic cooperation between the two states.
A number of documents were signed at the end of the talks.
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President Tokayev receives credentials from newly-appointed ambassadors and the head of EU Delegation
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Newly-appointed ambassadors of four countries and the head of the EU Delegation to Kazakhstan have presented their credentials to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at the Presidential Residence Akorda.
Presenting their credentials were French Ambassador Sylvain Guiaugué, Head of the EU Delegation to Kazakhstan Aleška Simkić, Finnish Ambassador Janne Heiskanen, Ambassador of Canada Christopher Duggan and Ambassador of Brazil Marcel Fortuna Biato, Akorda reports.
Addressing the diplomats, the President noted that Kazakhstan is committed to a peaceful diplomacy and able to contribute significantly to ensuring security and stability in the international arena. The Head of State also confirmed the country’s commitment to continue close cooperation with the UN on global and regional security issues.
In conclusion, the Kazakh President congratulated the newly appointed ambassadors on the official beginning of their diplomatic mission and conveyed the best wishes to the heads of their states.
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