Kazakh Leader proposes reforms for development of CA economy

At the meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev paid special attention to the development of the economies and economic relations of the Central Asian countries, El.kz reports.

"The formation of a solid economic base for multilateral cooperation remains an urgent task. In recent years, tangible results have been achieved in this area. Over the past 5 years, Kazakhstan's trade turnover with other Central Asian countries has grown by 42%, reaching $ 6.3 billion. Given the presence of huge reserves for increasing mutual trade, in the foreseeable future it is desirable to bring this figure to $ 15 billion," Tokayev said.

The threat of an impending global recession, largely provoked by sanctions wars and growing protectionism, brings to the fore the issue of accelerated development of regional economic cooperation.

"In the context of collapsing production and trade supply chains, the trend towards regionalization is everywhere and more clearly manifested. Against this background, the indicators of trade between our countries that I have cited still do not reflect the full potential available. Central Asian economic cooperation may well become, if not the main, then at least one of the key sources of growth of our national economies," the President of Kazakhstan said.

To perform such tasks, the Head of State proposed to create border hubs.

"For the full use of the economic potential and advantages of an advantageous geographical location, it is important to establish close cooperation in order to eliminate structural and infrastructural restrictions. It would be practically useful to take effective measures to launch a network of cross-border trade and economic hubs, which will serve as reference points of the Unified Commodity Distribution System of the Central Asian countries with the prospect of its further expansion. Kazakhstan is already taking practical steps in this direction with Kyrgyz and Uzbek partners," the Head of State said.

In particular, the project of the International Center for Industrial Cooperation "Central Asia" is being implemented on the Kazakh-Uzbek border, and the Industrial Trade and Logistics Complex is being implemented on the Kazakh-Kyrgyz border.

"There is an agreement on the creation of wholesale distribution centers with Tajikistan, and together with Turkmenistan we plan to build a grain terminal. These projects meet our common interests in increasing the volume of mutual trade, as well as exporting products to the markets of the EAEU and other countries," the President said.

According to Tokayev, in view of modern challenges, Asian countries need to actively develop e-commerce.

"Along with traditional approaches, it is necessary to make wider use of modern ways to increase exports of goods. In particular, recent widespread restrictions and lockdowns have shown the extreme importance of the development of e-commerce.

Taking into account the competitive positions of the countries of Central Asia, at the initial stage Kazakhstan proposes to organize joint promotion of products at the upcoming online exhibitions. For example, during the last exhibition on the Alibaba site, Russia alone presented over 50 thousand items of goods. This year, Kazakhstan became the 18th country to open the National Pavilion on the Alibaba platform," the Head of State said.

The pavilion was opened on June 24, 2022, a total of 7500 units of Kazakhstani goods, about 130 companies are presented on the platform.

"Sales since 2020 have totaled $167 million. But this, of course, is not a matter of complete satisfaction, there are reserves. Strengthening the socio-economic stability of the region now largely depends on effective measures to attract investment According to international experts, our total potential for attracting foreign direct investment over the next 10 years is estimated at up to $170 billion, including about $70 billion in non-primary industries. In this context, the Astana International Financial Center can become an effective platform for stimulating direct and portfolio investments in regional projects.

We are open to any formats of bilateral and multilateral cooperation on the AIFC platform," Tokayev said at a meeting of the heads of state of Central Asia.

The AIFC combines the best experience of the world's financial institutions and the latest instruments. More than 1400 companies from 64 countries of the world are already registered in the Center.

To increase the investment attractiveness of the region, a new product has been developed - " AIFC Multipass Visa". This is a special category that will provide AIFC partners with unimpeded access to the territory of the participating countries for business trips.

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