BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct. 26
By Farida Nuri - Trend:
The President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed to create the interstate border trade zone at a meeting with his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, Trend reports on Oct. 26 citing TURKMENPORTAL.
This was announced at a briefing following the talks between the heads of the two states.
"For the comprehensive realization of our trade and economic potential, Kazakhstan proposed to hold interregional forums annually. This format has proven its effectiveness. As a result of this work, a special border trade zone with a car cargo terminal could be created on the border of the Mangistau region [Kazakhstan] and the Balkan region [Turkmenistan]," Tokayev said.
At the talks, special attention was paid to the prospects for trade and economic cooperation, the press service of the head of Kazakhstan reported.
The Kazakh president pointed out that the two countries have great potential for further increasing trade, and serious reserves in energy, transport, logistics, agriculture, industry, and other sectors.
"Therefore, we agreed to take a package of measures aimed at a significant increase in the volume of mutual trade. The governments have been instructed to use the existing export potential of the two countries to expand the range of goods," he said.
Tokayev also pointed out that his country is ready to increase the supply of products from the metallurgical, engineering, petrochemical, food, and pharmaceutical industries, as well as agricultural products, primarily flour and wheat.
Besides, according to him, for more effective economic cooperation, the governments were instructed to speed up the signing of the Agreement on the Promotion and Protection of Investments. In his opinion, great prospects are opened by mutually beneficial partnerships in the gas industry. In particular, Kazakhstan is ready to significantly increase imports of Turkmen gas.
The heads of states discussed in detail the prospects for cooperation in the transport and transit sphere.
"The main task in this direction was the full-fledged loading of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran highway. The importance of optimizing tariff policy and improving transportation conditions in our countries to stimulate the growth of traffic volumes was highlighted. There are also ample opportunities in the area of logistic interaction between the Caspian ports of Aktau, Kuryk and Turkmenbashi," the Kazakh president said.
Tokayev welcomed the initiative of the Turkmen leader to build a bridge across the Garabogaz Strait to launch a new highway in the direction of Kazakhstan and announced his readiness to study the possibilities of joint implementation of this promising project.