Kazakhstan’s maximum electric power export potential is more than 2,000 MW, Mazhilis (lower chamber of the Kazakh Parliament) Deputy Askhat Bekenov said at an April 2 Central Communications Service (CCS) briefing. “The export potential of Kazakhstan’s electricity is from 1,350 MW to 2,100 MW,” said Bekenov. According to him, the potential markets are Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Russia. “After the [implementation of the] north-south project, the opportunity to export through Uzbekistan to Tajikistan will appear,” he added. According to Bekenov, investment in the power sector will amount to 178 billion tenge (US$958.8 million) in 2015.
According to the forecast, Kazakhstan will export about seven million tonnes of grain in 2014-2015, Vice Minister of Agriculture Saparkhan Omarov said at a March 31 Central Communications Service (CCS) briefing. According to him, 4.7 million tonnes of grain have been already exported; 2.1 million tonnes to Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and Iran, 119,000 tonnes to Russia, 55,000 tonnes to China and 61,000 tonnes to the European Union (EU) countries. Moreover, 1.1 million tonnes of flour were exported, including 685,000 tonnes to Central Asian countries and 385,000 tonnes to Afghanistan. “We expect a twofold increase in the export due to the construction of the railway towards Iran,” he added.
Regular air flight from Astana to Tbilisi will be launched June 2, Georgian Ambassador Zurab Pataradze said at the March 30 Kazakhstan-Batumi business forum. Because of an increasing number of tourists, Air Astana decided to launch an Astana-Tbilisi-Astana flight connection. He noted that the new flight will develop the tourist potential of both countries and strengthen trade and economic cooperation. “To date, Georgia has 100 registered enterprises with Kazakh shares. Construction of the Rixos-Borjomi complex is one of the successful Kazakh-Georgian projects and the opening took place on Jan. 14. Moreover, Kazakhstan’s bank sector is successfully represented in Georgia, in particular by the network of Halyk bank,” said Pataradze.
Kazakh-Lithuanian cooperation, including preparations for the May visit of Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius, were discussed at an April 1 meeting between Kazakh Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Defence and Security Ikram Adyrbekov and Lithuanian Ambassador in Kazakhstan Vytautas Naudužas. The senator, who used to be the Kazakhstan ambassador in Vilnius, noted the importance of the visit and expressed the hope that it will give a new impetus to bilateral relations, as well as expand the Kazakhstan and Lithuania legal base. In turn, the Lithuanian ambassador noted the dynamic growth of trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Lithuania and pointed to the great potential for further development of trade and economic relations. According to the diplomat, two effective tools, the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation and the Business Council for Cooperation, were created.
