BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 20. Kazakhstan's location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia creates opportunities not only for transit, but also for the setup of a regional industrial center, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kazakhstan International Chamber of Commerce Murat Karimsakov said at the 8th Plenary Session of the CICA Business Council held in Baku today, Trend reports.
He noted that the business community of Kazakhstan is rolling up its sleeves and joining forces with companies from several countries across a wide array of sectors, including energy, industry, agriculture, logistics, medicine, education, IT, tourism, and more.
"Our trade relations are constantly growing with an increase in export and import volumes and the development of joint ventures.
We have high technological potential, which allows us to offer a full range of opportunities for exporting industrial products to global markets. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan's industrial production index reached a level of about 106 percent in 2024. In the first three months of 2025, a steady positive trend in production continued, and growth reached 8.7 percent. This reflects the country's potential to deepen industrial cooperation and expand its participation in the global value chain.
The main growth accelerators in the first quarter of 2025 were mechanical engineering, food production, production of finished metal products, and the mining industry," the official explained.
Karimsakov emphasized that small and medium-sized enterprises play a key role in the process.
"They are flexible, innovative, and can quickly adapt to international market requirements. Ensuring access to financing, technology, and export channels for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) should be a priority of the CICA for sustainable production relations in the region.
Our country has more potential than just being a feedstock supplier and can create added value through local processing, assembly, and export of finished products.
The integration of SMEs into the international production chain, using the potential of special economic and industrial zones, logistics clusters, and digital infrastructure, will help to jointly strengthen our economic cooperation.
Industrial relations cover a wide range of interactions between enterprises, including technological, scientific and logistical cooperation in the production of certain products.
We are successfully implementing industrial cooperation projects with Azerbaijan, Turkey, China, Russia, and the SCO member countries with active participation of SMEs. The middle corridor is being developed through China, Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye, and European countries.
The logistics center in the Aktau port operates in a free economic zone and carries out storage, processing, and transportation of Azerbaijani fruits and vegetables.
Joint production of confectionery and pasta products is carried out together with the Turkish company Okan Holding, and these products are exported to Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Mongolia, and China.
Cooperation on import and export of passenger cars with the China National Machinery Manufacturing Company is successfully continuing," added Karimsakov.
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