Jordan, Kazakhstan to focus cooperation on 3 sectors

AMMAN. April 2. KAZINFORM Jordan and Kazakhstan agreed to focus on three major areas of cooperation because of the global financial crisis, according to Kazakhstan?s Ambassador to the Kingdom, Bulat Sarsenbayev.

?There were around 12 sectors that both countries were planning to boost cooperation on, but due to the financial crisis, the main focus will be on the sectors of agriculture, energy and pharmaceutical industry,? he said. He added that Jordan and Kazakhstan have a similar approach to address the financial crisis and by focusing on main sectors this will ?probably? help achieve plans by the end of this year. The diplomat told The Jordan Times that late last month Prime Minister Nader Dahabi and his Kazakh counterpart Karim Massimov agreed in Amman that the two countries should focus on these sectors while keeping the door open for other fields of cooperation. The private sectors in both countries will establish a joint venture to grow wheat in Kazakhstan for Jordan, Sarsenbayev indicated, noting that the project will be supported by the governments. Regarding the energy sector, the envoy said Jordan and the former Soviet country signed agreements for exchanging expertise. He said Kazakhstan can provide Jordan with expertise in the field of nuclear energy and uranium exploration. Sarsenbayev pointed that the Jordanian Hikma Pharmaceuticals will establish a drug factory in Kazakhstan as a joint venture with a Kazakh government institution. At the end of June, a business council will be held in Astana. It will include delegations from chambers of commerce and industry in both countries, according to the envoy. The ambassador referred to previous crisis that Kazakhstan was able to overcome such as the collapse of the Soviet Union and the east Asian financial crisis in the 1990s. He said the Kazakh government will create around 350,000 jobs this year by employing people in renovation projects for the country?s infrastructure including railway networks, schools, government buildings among others, Kazinform refers to The Jordan Times.