Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 16 March (BelTA) – Belarus is eager to restore the trade with Kazakhstan to $1 billion, Belarusian Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov said during a meeting with the Kazakhstan parliamentary delegation headed by Mazhilis Speaker Nurlan Nigmatulin, BelTA has learned.

“Kazakhstan is a major trading and economic partner of Belarus. In 2014 our trade amounted practically to $1 billion. Unfortunately, in view of the objective economic circumstances it has lately decreased by more than 2 times. The January 2017 numbers show that our economic cooperation is getting back to normal. We have set the task to restore the trade back to the level of 2014 and even surpass it in the nearest future,” Andrei Kobyakov noted.

According to the Belarusian prime minister, Belarus would like the social and economic cooperation program with Kazakhstan till 2026 to be adopted as soon as possible. “We expect that the documents will be signed in August as a Belarusian governmental delegation visits EXPO 2017 in Kazakhstan,” Andrei Kobyakov said.

Belarus and Kazakhstan have launched the first stage of a project to create an industrial and technology park of agricultural and utility equipment. The parties plan to assemble MAZ trucks and Lidagroprommash combine harvesters in Kazakhstan. Andrei Kobyakov also highlighted the prospects of co-producing drones and cooperation in the space sector.

Belarus is also ready for active participation in the third stage of Kazakhstan’s modernization program. “We have a number of ideas to propose within the framework of Nursultan Nazarbayev’s large-scale initiative on the country’s third modernization. Belarus expects to take part in this project,” Andrei Kobyakov underlined.

For his part, Nurlan Nigmatulin pointed out the importance of Belarus-Kazakhstan political and economic partnership. He also said that the amicable and trustful relations between Alexander Lukashenko and Nursultan Nazarbayev are the key factor contributing to the strengthening of mutual cooperation. In September 2017 the countries will mark the 25th anniversary of Belarus-Kazakhstan diplomatic relations. During this period both states have come a long way but have always kept supporting each other, Nurlan Nigmatulin noted.