Astana, 2 November 2023 (TDI): The opening of the Kazakh-French Business Forum kicked off in Astana on November 1.
The President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and the President of France, Emmanuel Macron took part in the opening of the Kazakh-French business forum, where both Heads of State stressed exploring several areas of economic cooperation and looking for the way forward.
The address of the Kazakh President set forth areas where Kazakhstan can further intensify its economic partnership with France, including sectors of railway, nuclear fuel, energy, oil, agriculture, transport and logistics, biotechnology, and medicine.
In this regard, President Tokayev highlighted that Kazakhstan has a strategic goal of doubling the size of the national economy by 2029, and putting maximum efforts into developing the Trans-Caspian international transport route or “Middle Corridor”.
He further added that Kazakhstan aims on publicizing the advantages of the international financial center “Astana” in attracting investments, for fortifying cooperation between Europe and Central Asia.
The French President on his part, highly appreciated Kazakhstan’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 and agreed to support Kazakhstan’s initiatives in this direction.
Besides that, the French President acknowledged Kazakhstan as the golden bridge connecting Europe and Central Asia and considered developing the bilateral partnership through transport routes, primarily through the “Middle Corridor” vital for cooperation.
Also, President Macron, emphasized that there are great prospects for cooperation in the field of agriculture to ensure food security.
Concluding his speech, President Macron thanked President Tokayev for confirming his readiness to further strengthen cooperation in many areas of mutual interest with France.
Meetings within the Framework of the Kazakh-French Business Forum
The President of Kazakhstan also met with the heads of French business structures within the framework of the Kazakh-French business forum.
During the conversation with the CEO of Lactalis Group, Emmanuel Benier, Kazakh President shared that Lactalis Group was one of the first French companies that entered the Kazakhstan market 20 years ago.
President Tokayev shared that due to the global challenges of food security, the importance of cooperation in the fields of agro-industry and food production is increasing, hence he encouraged investment in deep processing of agricultural products.
The CEO of Lactalis Group, Emmanuel Benier thanked the President for the reception and shared the plan of Lactalis Group to strengthen cooperation and open new production facilities in Kazakhstan.
After that, President Tokayev met with the President of Boehringer Ingelheim France, Christian Weisen, where the Kazakh President admired the importance of the agreement reached between the domestic QazBioPharm holding and the French company Boehringer Ingelheim on the transfer of technologies.
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He also informed the President of Boehringer Ingelheim France that the creation of a biotechnology cluster is actively underway in Kazakhstan, and the national biopharmaceutical holding QazBioPharm was established to develop domestic scientific expertise in this field.
At the same time, the President met with the CEO of Semmaris company, Stefan Layani, where the CEO of Semmaris company, informed President Tokayev about the implementation of the joint project to create a large hub for processing agricultural products in the Almaty region of Kazakhstan.
The CEO of Semmaris company also shared that for creating the agricultural hub in the Almaty region, the company will transfer technologies and French best practices at the initial stage of project implementation, and plan to commission this facility in 2025.
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