Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov visited Ankara on a working visit. This was reported by the government's press service on April 25.
The main goal of the trip is to ensure the quality development of Kazakh-Turkish cooperation and to unleash the potential for interaction in new promising sectors to achieve the task set by the Head of State, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, to accelerate the country's economic growth.
The focus of joint projects includes deep grain processing, coal chemistry, oil and gas industry, petrochemistry, and more, which will enable the production of high value-added products. In Ankara, Olzhas Bektenov was received by the President of the Republic of Turkey, held talks with the Vice President of Turkey, discussed investment cooperation in a meeting with representatives of the largest Turkish companies and holdings, and also spoke at the Kazakh-Turkish Business Forum, as stated in the message.
During the reception, Olzhas Bektenov conveyed warm greetings and best wishes from President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The agreements reached at the level of the heads of the two states on developing cooperation in the spirit of expanded strategic partnership are actively being implemented in all sectors of trade and economic, investment, energy, transport and logistics, agricultural, and cultural-humanitarian cooperation.
In the course of intergovernmental negotiations, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov and Vice President of Turkey Cevdet Yilmaz discussed specific measures to enhance mutually beneficial partnership and expressed readiness to explore the prospects of further cooperation in the areas of transit and transport, agriculture, manufacturing industry, digitalization, and tourism, as reported by the government.
According to the Cabinet's information, Turkey is among the top five largest trading partners of Kazakhstan and the top 20 investor countries.
"Today, the governments of the two countries are working on systematically ensuring a stable volume of trade at a level of not less than $10 billion. Kazakhstan intends to increase the export of products to Turkey by 34 types of goods totaling over $630 million. Among them are products from the metallurgical, petrochemical, food, and engineering industries. In turn, the Turkish side has expressed interest in implementing new joint projects in promising economic directions. In just one year, the volumes of freight transportation by rail and road transport have increased by 40%. The parties have outlined the prospects for tripling the volume of freight traffic within the framework of developing the potential of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor," emphasized the press service.
It is also reported that during the 13th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, delegations in an expanded format discussed the mechanism for strengthening industrial cooperation and outlined plans for the localization of pharmaceutical production, exchange of advanced experience in medicine, and strengthening cultural and humanitarian ties.
The main topic of the meeting with representatives of the Turkish business community was the discussion of prospects and identification of new points of contact.
"At the round table, the leadership of the largest companies - captains of Turkish business participated: the chairman of the board of the construction group YDA Holding Hussein Arslan, the chairman of the board of the industrial group, the fourth largest company in the global chrome industry Yildirim Holding Robert Yuksel Yildirim, the chairman of the board of one of the largest companies in the world for the production and export of agricultural crops Tiryaki Holding Ahmet Tiryakioglu, the chairman of the board of the leading Turkish logistics company Sistem Lojistik Hussein Barlin, the CEO of the holding group Abdi Ibrahim, the leader in the pharmaceutical market of Turkey, Suha Taspolatoglu, a member of the board of the leading manufacturer of pharmaceutical products Nobel Ilac Sami Turkoglu, and others," the statement said.
It is noted that the dialogue continued on the sidelines of the business forum with the participation of over 500 representatives of business circles, during which Turkish entrepreneurs were acquainted with the investment climate of Kazakhstan and the measures of state support provided to investors. Currently, about 100 joint Kazakh-Turkish investment projects totaling around $3.8 billion are being implemented.
Addressing the business representatives, Olzhas Bektenov emphasized the readiness to support the implementation of important projects for the country.
"The investment potential of our country is enormous, and we are interested in further expanding mutually beneficial cooperation with Turkey. Kazakhstan is focused on transferring advanced technologies, localizing production, and creating clusters for deep processing to obtain high-quality high value-added products. Investors willing to collaborate in this direction will be provided with the necessary resources, infrastructure, and support. The Government of Kazakhstan is ready to become a reliable and long-term partner for all those willing to do business in our country," emphasized the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan.
The head of the Kazakh government drew the attention of businessmen to the most promising areas. Among them are petrochemicals, coal chemistry, engineering with a focus on deepening production localization and expanding the model range of manufactured equipment.
"In the trade and economic relations between Turkey and fraternal Kazakhstan, there is a positive trend. A great contribution to this is made by business representatives, investors, exporters. I would also like to emphasize the special importance of today's negotiations. The governments of our countries will continue to make joint efforts to develop economies and provide all possible assistance to businesses. I am confident that the cooperation between Kazakhstan and Turkey will expand thanks to new agreements," noted the Vice President of the Republic of Turkey, Cevdet Yilmaz.
Following the business forum, in the presence of the delegations of Kazakhstan and Turkey, 10 commercial documents in the field of investment cooperation were signed totaling over $180 million. Among them are a memorandum on the export of finished products, agreements on the construction of a logistics hub, as well as a number of plants for the production of calcined soda, rain equipment, non-woven materials, irrigation equipment assembly, an agreement on the exchange of advanced experience in seed production, and prospects for seed supply.
Earlier, it was reported that Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov at a government meeting on April 23, 2024, noted the positive results in the construction of housing in Astana and praised the Mayor of the capital, Zhenis Kasymbek, for this.
