Central Asia and Japan hold huge potential for greater cooperation, Kazakh PM
Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov of Kazakhstan attended the Business Forum Central Asia plus Japan Dialogue at the direction of the Head of State, Kazinform News Agency cites primeminister.kz.
The Forum brought together over 450 representatives of delegations of the Central Asian countries and Japan. Representing the business circles of Japan were executives and managers of such major companies such as Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries EMEA, Ltd., Mitsui & Co., Ltd, and the expert community were scholars of industry-leading universities and others.
The event’s participants discussed the prospects for strengthening economic ties and expanding cooperation, including in digitalization, transport and logistics, agribusiness, heavy industry, and so on.
Addressing the Forum, Bektenov outlined the key areas for boosting multifaceted cooperation.
Japan is rightfully seen as one of the global economic and technological leaders. Japanese products are known for their quality, durability and innovativeness. The country continuously remains at the forefront of progress, greatly contributing to the improvement of the standard of living of peoples around the globe. In its turn, Central Asia is a dynamically developing region with a huge growth potential and all necessary conditions for multilateral cooperation.
I believe that the countries of our region and Japan have a great potential for progressive expansion of cooperation. Implementation of transnational projects with the participation of Japanese investors undoubtedly contributes to greater economic connectivity of the region. Today’s productive talks are supposed to take our multifaceted partnership to a quality new level, stated Bektenov.
The Kazakh Prime Minister drew attention to the cooperation of Central Asia and Japan in the field of transfer of advanced technologies and manufacture of products with high added value. In this regard, the possibility of creating joint innovative clusters, technoparks and incubators was noted.
According to Bektenov, the unique IT ecosystem allowing to significantly modernize the sectors of public administration, fintech and e-commerce is being created in the Central Asian region. In this context, CA-Japan cooperation in implementing technologies of AI, construction of data-centers and ensuring cybersecurity could benefit all sides, the Kazakh Premier said. The agricultural technologies based on AI, robotics and other advanced scientific achievements are of interest as well.
Potential cooperation between the Astana International Financial Center and Tokyo Stock Exchange could contribute largely to greater financial interaction as well as deeper interregional partnership.
Special attention was paid to expansion of partnership in developing rare metals deposits as well as implementation of joint projects in the transport and logistics sector. The transit potential the Central Asian region holds in North, South, East and West directions provides great opportunities for Japanese exports and imports.
Addressing the Forum were also Kazakh Invest Board Chairman Yerzhan Yelekeev, Marubeni Corporation Directors Board Chairman Fumiya Kokubu, and others.
The Business Forum held as part of the CA+Japan Dialogue is to conclude with a signature of documents on joint projects set to bring the multifaceted partnership to a new level.
