Kazakh government seeks to boost exports of domestic agricultural products to EU
Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov held a meeting with European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski to discuss the expansion of cooperation in the agricultural field, Kazinform News Agency cites primeminister.kz.
The participants of the meeting pointed out the special importance of food security, reviewed the measured aimed at boosting the export of food to the EU market as well as creating joint projects on production and processing of agricultural products.
Kazakhstan and the EU countries are to continue pursuing the policy of raising the standards of the quality of agricultural products and supporting farmers. In this context, the importance of strengthening interaction in the implementation of advanced agrarian technologies, exchange of experiences regarding reduction of risks of negative impact of climate change on agriculture was noted.
The agro-industrial complex is among the key sectors of our economy. Taking into account our country’s potential in production of quality and organic agricultural products as well as growing demand from European consumers we should step up the work to expand the nomenclature of exports of Kazakhstani products to the European market, said Bektenov.
For his part, Wojciechowski noted the favorable conditions created in Kazakhstan for investors as well as confirmed the commitment of the EU countries to strengthen bilateral cooperation. Attention was also drawn to the measures to eliminate the existing barriers in mutual trade and harmonizing legislations.
During the meeting, the positive dynamics of bilateral trade turnover between Kazakhstan and the EU was noted. In general, the European countries account for over 40% of the investments attracted in the country and around 30% of Kazakhstan’s foreign trade.
The Kazakhstan-EU trade rose 3.5% and reached 41.4 billion US dollars, including 31 billion US dollars worth of Kazakhstani exports, in one year. Especially high activity was observed in mutual trade of agricultural products, with the figure rising by 13.4%. Wheat, flax seeds, rapeseeds, processed grain crops and others are the main export products from Kazakhstan to the EU. The work is ongoing to increase the share of exports of products with a higher degree of processing.
