BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 21. Economic cooperation of Central Asian countries may become one of the key sources of growth for their national economies, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at the IV Consultative Meeting of the Heads of Central Asian States on July 21, Trend reports.
According to Tokayev, amid disrupting industrial and trade supply chains, the regionalization tendency is becoming more and more visible everywhere.
“Against this background, the indicators of trade between our countries still don’t reflect the full potential. To take full advantage of the economic potential and the advantages of a favorable geographical position, it’s important to establish close cooperation in order to eliminate structural and infrastructural constraints,” the president noted.
“It would be practically useful to take effective measures to launch a network of border trade and economic hubs which will be used as reference points for the Unified Commodity Distribution System of the Central Asian countries with the prospect of its further expansion,” he noted.
Besides, Tokayev noted that Kazakhstan has already taken practical steps in this direction with Kyrgyz and Uzbek partners.
“In particular, the “Central Asia” project of the International Center for Industrial Cooperation is being implemented on the Kazakh-Uzbek border, and the Industrial Trade and Logistics Complex is being built on the Kazakh-Kyrgyz border,” the president said. “There is an agreement with Tajikistan on the establishment of wholesale distribution centers, and together with Turkmenistan we are planning to build a grain terminal.”
“These projects meet our common interests in increasing the volume of mutual trade, as well as exporting products to the markets of the EAEU and other countries,” he added.