ASTANA, Kazakhstan, November 28. Kazakhstan is interested in increasing trade turnover with China, Trend reports.
This was stated during a meeting between Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov and Vice Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Ding Xuexiang.
The bilateral trade turnover between Kazakhstan and China is currently significant. As a result, trade turnover surged by 35 percent last year, reaching $24.2 billion.
This year's dynamic growth will continue. Mutual trade has expanded by 24 percent in the last ten months.
"I believe that at this pace we will soon be able to achieve the goal of increasing trade turnover to $40 billion, outlined by the heads of the two states," Smailov added.
At the same time, on November 10, the countries implemented a visa-free system. As the Prime Minister emphasized, this marks the beginning of a new chapter in Kazakh-Chinese ties.
Alikhan Smailov noted the importance of expanding the List of joint Kazakh-Chinese projects in the field of industrialization and investment, signing the Roadmap for the implementation of the Trade and Economic Cooperation Program until 2026, as well as updating the Agreement on mutual inspection of import and export goods.
"I am confident that the practical measures that will be provided for in these documents will expand the range of supplied goods and take trade partnership to a qualitatively new level," the PM added.
In addition, Smailov noted Kazakhstan’s interest in increasing trade turnover of agricultural products, increasing exports to China and implementing joint processing projects in the agricultural sector.
In 2022, Kazakhstan’s trade turnover with China amounted to $24.1 billion, which is 34.1 percent more than a year earlier.
Exports from Kazakhstan increased over the year by 34.7 percent, to $13.2 billion. The share of Kazakhstan's exports to China accounted for a significant 15.6 percent of the country's total trade turnover.
Imports from China to Kazakhstan grew by 33.5 percent over the year, to $11 billion. China's share in the structure of imports of the Republic of Kazakhstan amounted to 21.9 percent.