ASTANA – Bilateral trade between Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan is showing dynamic growth, with a 72% increase to $438 million recorded in 2022, Kazakh First Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar said at the 12th meeting of the Intergovernmental Kazakh-Turkmen Commission on economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation on May 15, reported the Kazakh Ministry of Trade and Integration’s press service.
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The meeting, co-chaired by Sklyar and Turkmen Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Batyr Atdayev, resulted in a number of agreements in the agriculture, energy, transport, and logistics sectors.
Kazakhstan offered to establish close cooperation between the KazakhExport export insurance company and Turkmenistan’s banks, as Kazakh exporters of processed goods are expressing interest in the Turkmen market.
Sklyar emphasized the need to implement the grain terminal project on the Turkmen-Afghan border as soon as possible.
The countries agreed to continue joint work on developing the North-South Transport Corridor and forming a flexible, competitive tariff policy in railway communication.
Kazakhstan is also keen to purchase Turkmen’s natural and liquefied petroleum gas. It has been possible to carry out uninterrupted natural gas transit through Kazakhstan for several years.
Kazakhstan has also entered the top three foreign trade partners with another country in Central Asia – Uzbekistan – with bilateral trade hitting $5 billion in 2022. According to the Uzbek State Statistics Committee, trade between the countries amounted to $1.5 billion over the four months of this year, with exports exceeding $1 million and imports reaching $426.8 million.
