On the eve of the China-Central Asia summit, to which the leaders of the Central Asian countries were invited at the initiative of the Chairman of the People's Republic of China, the Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan, together with QazTrade, organized a trade and economic mission for business to the city of Xi'an, El.kz reports with reference to the press service of the Ministry of Trade and Integration.
More than 40 Kazakhstani food producers take part in the business event from May 15 to 17. These are representatives of enterprises for the production of fat-and-oil and meat products, pasta and confectionery, honey, wine and vodka, juices and others.
From the Chinese side, more than 800 entrepreneurs arrived at the business meeting, as well as representatives of the Consulate General of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Xi'an, the Committee for the Promotion of International Trade in Xi'an, the People's Municipality of Xi'an, the Foreign Affairs Office of Shaanxi Province, and the Foreign Affairs Office of Xi'an.
As Vice Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kairat Torebayev noted in his welcoming speech, despite the post-pandemic period, mutual trade between Kazakhstan and China reached record levels, exceeding $24 billion last year. In particular, the export of Kazakh products to China grew by more than a third and amounted to $13.2 billion.
Similarly, the demand for Chinese goods in Kazakhstan is increasing. The volume of imports increased by 33.5% and amounted to $11.0 billion.
The growth trend continues this year. In January-March 2023, the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and China amounted to $5.9 billion, which is 28.1% higher than in the same period of the previous year ($4.6 billion).
According to Kairat Torebayev, Kazakhstan has great potential in the supply of environmentally friendly agricultural products to China. These are chilled meat, fish products, poultry and offal meat and other types of high-margin goods.
"Kazakh companies are ready to offer the Chinese consumer a wide range of industrial and agricultural products for 135 additional commodity items worth over $1 billion," the vice minister recalled.
In turn, the Acting Deputy Mayor of Xi'an, Lu Lai Sheng, noted the positive contribution of Kazakhstani business and government agencies to the development of Chinese-Kazakh cooperation. He praised Kazakhstan's participation in the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative.
At the business platform, Kazakh companies presented their export potential, presented samples of domestic products. As a result of the trade mission, export contracts were signed for the supply of camel milk powder, drinks, egg noodles, cattle and small cattle meat to China in the amount of about $ 100 million and 4 memorandums on further trade and economic cooperation.
Within the framework of the trade mission to Xi'an, the National Export Insurance Company KazakhExport and the international logistics company Wuhan Asia Europe Logistics Co. signed a memorandum of cooperation.
The parties agreed to jointly organize events to promote Kazakh products to the Chinese market.
"The strategic document is aimed at increasing the efficiency of joint work between the companies of Kazakhstan and China, developing close commercial relations and increasing the volume of non-resource exports of finished Kazakh products to China," said Sergey Salmanov, Regional Director of KazakhExport in China.
According to the memorandum, Wuhan Han'ou will import Kazakh products and sell them in the retail chains of Hubei Province and China, through thematic departments, with the installation of specialized stands in the Kazakh national style.
In addition, during a business trip to Xi'an, Kazakh exporters were able to visit Chinese manufacturing enterprises for three days, exchange experience and identify common interests for cooperation. This is the first trade and economic mission after the pandemic, which QazTrade conducts in China in an offline format.