Events

GOMEL, 21 July (BelTA) – Belarus and Kazakhstan have initialed the roadmap meant to guide the development of bilateral cooperation in 2017-2018. The procedure was part of the latest session of the Belarusian-Kazakh intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation, BelTA has learned.

According to First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vasily Matyushevsky, the sides are satisfied with the content of the action plan for the next two years. “We are sincerely glad that Belarus and Kazakhstan have a large number of areas of joint work. Today alone we’ve managed to discuss over 20 items concerning economic and social affairs,” he said.

First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintayev remarked that the roadmap pays close attention to agribusiness, in particular, the establishment and operation of joint ventures. “Kazakhstan is ready to provide all kinds of support, including with finance and infrastructure, to joint ventures specializing in agriculture,” he stressed.

During the session the sides also discussed matters of cooperation in transport and logistics, designing and construction, space industry and power engineering, science and technologies, education, sport, and tourism. The meeting resulted in signing the minutes of the commission’s session and a program on cooperation in physical training and sport between the Belarusian and Kazakh ministries of sport and tourism. The sides decided to convene for the next session of the commission in Kazakhstan in 2017.

At present there are 13 joint ventures in Kazakhstan that assemble mining machines, tractors, grain harvesters, balers, elevators, and towed agricultural machines. Kazakhstan occupies the third position in the CIS states in terms of the volume of Belarusian export. In 2015 Belarus-Kazakhstan trade totaled $576.3 million.