The 9th meeting of the Kazakhstan-Poland Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation (IGC) took place under the chairmanship of Kazakhstan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vassilenko and Secretary of State at Poland’s Ministry of Economic Development and Technology Grzegorz Piechowiak, El.kz cites MFA.
Representatives of the sectoral ministries and departments of the two countries took part in the work of the Intergovernmental Commission. The agenda of the meeting covered the expansion of mutual trade, the implementation of joint investment projects, including in the field of medium and small businesses, transport and logistics, agro-industrial complex, food industry, construction, engineering, pharmaceuticals, finance, education and tourism.
Both parties noted with satisfaction the high growth of bilateral trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Poland, the volume of which in 2022 amounted to almost 1.4 bln US dollars (an increase of 80%). For the first four months of 2023 this indicator amounted to more than 430 mln US dollars.
In this regard, Piechowiak stressed that Kazakhstan is Poland’s leading partner in Central Asia, emphasizing the Polish side’s intention to further increase trade and economic cooperation with our country.
In turn, Vassilenko informed about the state’s support tools for foreign investors. It was noted that by the end of 2022, the total inflow of foreign direct investment from all foreign partners to Kazakhstan amounted to 28 billion US dollars, which is a record figure for the last 10 years. In 2022, 75 mln US dollars was attracted from Poland, and since the year of 2005 – 350 mln US dollars. There are more than 100 companies with Polish participation in Kazakhstan, including Polpharma, Selena and others.
Special attention was given to the indirect impact of the West’s sanctions policy on Kazakhstan’s economy and the country’s interaction with its foreign partners on this issue.
Given Poland’s membership in the European Union, the parties stressed the importance of a speedy start of negotiations between Astana and Brussels on facilitating the visa regime for Kazakhstan’s citizens travelling to Europe.
Having confirmed mutual interest in increasing cooperation in a number of areas, the parties updated the list of priority joint business projects and reached an agreement to strengthen bilateral cooperation in specific sectors of the economy. As a result of the event, the Protocol of the meeting of the Kazakhstan-Poland Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation was signed.
The day before the Intergovernmental Commission meeting (June 15th), a business forum “Poland-Kazakhstan” was held in Warsaw with participation of representatives of the business community of both countries. During the event the investment potential of our country was presented and issues of cooperation in a number of areas, including agriculture, transport, logistics, chemical industry, information and communication technologies, digitalization, etc. were considered.
Following the results of the business forum, a number of agreements were reached between the commercial entities of the two countries. A Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between the Kazakh Invest national company and Polish company Seneka Poland on construction of two plants for the fish feed production in Kazakhstan. The cost of the project will be 100 million euros.
Within the framework of the visit, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Foreign Minister held bilateral meetings with Marcin Przydacz, Head of the International Policy Bureau at the Office of the President of Poland and Paweł Jabłoński, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland. An insightful exchange of views took place on topical issues of the bilateral and multilateral agenda. Following the talks, an agreement was reached on further practical cooperation in the political, trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres.
At the round table with the participation of representatives of the leading Polish think tanks, the results of the Astana International Forum and the main directions of the implementation of Kazakhstan’s multi-vector foreign policy were discussed. During the event in Warsaw mutual interest was expressed in further expanding cooperation through research institutes of the two countries.
Deputy Minister Vassilenko also met with Polish senator Aleksander Pociej, deputy chairperson of the Polish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), head of the European People’s Party (EPP) political group in PACE, and the rapporteur on cooperation between PACE and Kazakhstan. During the meeting, the parliamentarian expressed his support for institutional reforms in Kazakhstan.
This topic was also discussed at the Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister’s meeting with Matteo Mecacci, director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), during which he was informed about the consistent measures of the President and Government of Kazakhstan to strengthen civil society institutions in the country. The ODIHR Director expressed his gratitude for Kazakhstan’s firm commitment to the OSCE’s principles and values, including in the humanitarian dimension. In this regard, he confirmed the ODIHR’s willingness to provide all possible support to the efforts for the political modernization of Kazakhstan.