Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 18
Trend:
The 7th meeting of the Kyrgyz-Kazakh Intergovernmental Council was held in Astana city of Kazakhstan on Aug. 17, the Kyrgyz Kabar news agency reported.
The meeting was chaired by Kyrgyz Prime Minister Mukhammedkalyi Abylgaziev and his Kazakh counterpart Bakhytzhan Sagintayev.
In his welcoming speech, Abylgaziev noted the strong, centuries-old relationship between the two peoples.
“Kyrgyzstan attaches special importance to the development of relations with Kazakhstan,” he said. “I believe that strategic relations between our countries will continue to reaffirm our unity. Today, important documents are expected to be signed as part of this meeting, including the protocols on the border checkpoints “Ken-Bulun – Avtodorozhny” and “Tokmok – Avtodorozhny.”
Abylgaziev expressed his opinion on the prospects for cooperation in the trade sphere between the two countries.
“It is known that trade relations are a promising and profitable direction in cooperation,” he said. “We consider it necessary to apply all effective mechanisms to bring the trade turnover between our countries to $1 billion, considering the diversification of items of the trade turnover.”
In turn, the Kazakh prime minister noted that the interaction between the two countries on the state border is developing steadily.
“The treaty on the demarcation of the agreement on the state border regime signed in December 2017 is on ratification,” he said. “We are ready to sign a protocol on changing the status of the border checkpoints “Ken-Bulun – Avtodorozhny” and “Tokmok – Avtodorozhny”, which will make it possible to increase their throughput. We understand that the implementation of this solution implies the modernization of these checkpoints and access roads to them.”
He noted that the government of Kazakhstan always pays great attention to strengthening economic and good-neighborly relations with Kyrgyzstan.
“Today, we observe a positive trend in our trade and economic relations,” he added. “In 2017 mutual trade increased by 13 percent, and for the five months of this year, the growth was almost 10 percent. I am confident that this index will increase by the end of this year. I think that it is necessary to ensure further deepening of trade relations based on mutually beneficial supplies, increasing the range of goods supplied and opening of joint ventures.”
At the same time, Sagintayev emphasized that the implementation of the road map will undoubtedly lead to an increase in mutual trade between the countries.
“The newly created Kazakh-Kyrgyz business council should become one of the most effective tools for the solution of the tasks set,” he said. “The council’s first meeting will be held by the end of this year. We pay special attention to the development of interregional trade and economic relations between the two countries. As part of the subcommittee for economic development “Almaty- Bishkek”, we started implementing joint projects to create modern agricultural wholesale markets.”
This is while Abylgaziev noted that the governments of the two countries should focus on eliminating all obstacles that affect the level of trade between the two countries.