Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
Kazakhstan and Israel discussed current and future cooperation in the fields of trade, business, investment, agriculture, health, information and communication technologies within the 7th session of the Kazakh-Israeli commission on trade and economic cooperation, Kazakh Finance ministry reported Nov 24.
The Commission is headed by Kazakh Finance Minister Bakhyt Sultanov and Israeli Minister of Environmental Protection and Jerusalem Affairs Zeev Elkin.
The parties also discussed preparation for the signing of bilateral documents within the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Kazakhstan in December.
The parties noted the importance of the start of negotiations on the conclusion of the agreement on the free trade zone between the Eurasian Economic Union and its member states and Israel.
It was agreed to enhance cooperation in the sphere of health, in particular to hold training for Kazakh specialists in leading Israeli medical centers.
The Israeli side expressed interest for developing of cooperation in the field of agriculture. A special attention was paid to the transformation of the Kazakh-Israeli Center drip irrigation center Ushkonyr into the International Centre, as well as to the creation of a joint consortium to build a demonstration farm in Kazakhstan.
The trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Israel hit $236.9 million in January – September 2016 which is 1.3 percent less than in the same period of 2015, according to Finance Ministry. Kazakh export to Israel hit $ 196.9 million, import - $40.0 million in this period.
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