Berlin, 29 September 2023 (TDI): The President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev participated in the round table meeting of business groups of Kazakhstan and Germany on September 28, in Berlin.
The round table meeting of business groups of Kazakhstan and Germany was organized by the German Economic Committee of the East (GEK) at the sideline of the Berlin Global Dialogue.
During the meeting, both sides talked over the different areas of cooperation that can be extended between Germany and Kazakhstan followed by appraising the already existing bilateral relations between the two countries.
During the meeting, the President of Kazakhstan notified that German business has invested about 6 billion dollars in Kazakhstan where the bilateral trade increased by 25 percent last year and reached 2.8 billion dollars.
Cooperation in the fields of natural resources, food, and agriculture
The President of Kazakhstan highlighted that his country is ready to be a reliable partner in the field of natural resources and important raw materials primarily for German and European industry.
In this regard, he stated that he proposed to German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz to create a Consortium for the implementation of joint raw material development projects that will further enhance the bilateral relations between the two countries.
He also invited German private investors to join this consortium. The President of Kazakhstan also shed light on the prospects of cooperation in the field of renewable energy sources.
In this course, he highlighted that an agreement worth 50 billion dollars has been signed with the joint German-Swedish company, Svevind Group on the production of “green” hydrogen that serves as one of the largest projects in the world.
The President expressed confidence that the combination of Germany’s technological solutions with Kazakhstan’s natural and human resources will lead to high results.
Furthermore, during the meeting, the President said that there is a great opportunity to promote cooperation in the field of agriculture.
In this case, he stressed that Kazakhstan plans to become the food hub of the region. For this purpose, an interregional system of trade-logistics connections combining the production, storage, and distribution of products will be created.
“Many German companies specializing in various fields, including biotechnology and fertilizer production, satellite sensing and artificial intelligence, production of agricultural machinery, irrigation, as well as food industry, genetics, and renewable energy sources, can be involved in the sustainable development of Kazakhstan’s agriculture.” President of Kazakhstan added.
Cooperation in the fields of transport, IT, and human capital development
The President of Kazakhstan also focused on developing cooperation by using the potential of transport and logistics and highlighted the importance of the “Middle Corridor” in increasing connectivity between Europe and Asia.
Apart from that, the President of Kazakhstan highlighted another priority area of cooperation which is IT technology.
“We plan to increase the export of IT products and services to 1 billion dollars and strengthen human capital by training 100,000 globally competitive IT specialists by 2025.” Kazakh President stated.
He also added, “We are ready to implement projects in several areas of cooperation with our German partners, including research and development works, start-ups, education, communications, and other relevant areas.”
Also read: Kazakhstan, Germany to enhance cooperation in field of energy
In the field of human capital development and investment attraction, the President of Kazakhstan highlighted that an initiative has already been taken to open the Kazakhstan-German Engineering Institute under the Caspian State University.
He also focused on the initiative to develop the Kazakhstan-German Institute of Science and Technology under the East Kazakhstan Technical University.
It was said that Kazakhstan is making every opportunity for foreign investors through the site of the international financial center “Astana” to attract investment.
The President of Kazakhstan also invited German businessmen to actively participate in the implementation of projects aimed at diversifying Kazakhstan’s economy, opening new production facilities, and introducing advanced German technologies.
The top managers of leading German businesses also attended the meeting and shared their thoughts on developing prospects of cooperation with Kazakhstan in specific areas of the economy.
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