At the 11th meeting of the Kazakh-Swiss Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation in Astana, the possibilities of strengthening bilateral mutually beneficial partnership were discussed, El.kz reports with reference to the press service of the Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The Kazakh delegation was headed by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin, the Swiss delegation was headed by the Ambassador, Commissioner of the Federal Council for Trade Agreements, Member of the Board of SECO, Head of the Department of Bilateral Relations of SECO Erwin Bollinger.
Swiss business is widely represented in Kazakhstan. These are mainly the so-called industry flagships - Philip Morris International (tobacco industry), Glencore International (MMC), Roche Holding (pharma), SGS (certification) or ABB (electrical engineering), Bühler Group (mechanical engineering) and others. In total, there are about 300 companies with the participation of Swiss capital in our country.
Serik Zhumangarin noted that over the 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the two countries have invariably reaffirmed their commitment to an open political dialogue and further strengthening. Relations are developing in line with mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation.
At the end of 2022, the trade turnover between our countries amounted to $1.4 billion. We have conducted an analysis of our potentially exportable goods, and we are ready to expand the current list by another 90 commodity items in the amount of $546.4 million.
Given the high quality of Swiss goods, we are ready to offer premium products: caviar, fish, honey, wine and vodka products. We are actively working with the European Commission, the export of fish products has already been agreed, honey is being worked out. At the working groups, we initiated the issue of certification of the supply of Kazakh caviar to the EU market," Zhumangarin said.
During the meeting, the parties discussed issues of bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interest: trade and investment, agriculture, aviation, energy, technical regulation, standardization and metrology, education and science, intellectual property, as well as attracting venture capital investments.
As a result of the intergovernmental commission, the parties agreed to exchange lists of potential export goods that can be delivered to the markets of Kazakhstan and Switzerland, and on an ongoing basis to work on finding partners among the business circles of both countries and establishing supplies.
Switzerland is one of the top 3 investors in Kazakhstan, after the Netherlands and the United States. The volume of Swiss direct investment in Kazakhstan has exceeded $31 billion since 2005, and the trade turnover between the two countries in 2022 reached $1.4 billion, an increase of 6.4% compared to 2021 ($1.3 billion).