ASTANA – President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took part in the Kazakhstan-Germany business roundtable on Sept. 28 in Berlin under the auspices of the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, where the President outlined several promising areas for cooperation, reported the Akorda press service.
Photo credit: Akorda.
Tokayev said that despite the geopolitical turmoil last year, bilateral trade increased by 25% and reached $2.8 billion. He noted that German businesses have invested almost $6 billion in Kazakhstan. Nearly 90% of these investments are in the non-resource sector.
More than 1,000 companies with German capital operate in Kazakhstan.
Tokayev commended the German approach to doing business, which is based on determination, precision, and responsibility. The President expressed interest in creating production facilities that will produce products made in Kazakhstan with German quality.
He reaffirmed that Kazakhstan is ready to become a reliable partner in the natural resources and critical raw materials important for Germany and Europe.
“The global demand for critical materials and rare earth metals is expected to quadruple by 2040. The World Bank estimates that there are over 5,000 unexplored deposits still present in Kazakhstan valued over $46 trillion. That is why I have proposed to Chancellor Scholz the creation of a Consortium for the implementation of joint raw materials projects. This initiative, along with our existing intergovernmental partnership agreements, would bring our cooperation to the new level,” Tokayev said.
Renewable energy sources, transport, logistics, and agriculture were mentioned among areas with significant potential for cooperation.
“Kazakhstan plans to become a regional hub for food supply. To achieve this, we will establish an Interregional system of trade and logistics channels connecting production, storage and the distribution of products. Many German companies from a wide variety of fields can be involved in developing sustainable agriculture in Kazakhstan – from biotechnology and fertilizers to satellite sensing and artificial intelligence; from agricultural machinery, irrigation and the food industry to genetics and renewable energy,” the President noted.
IT technologies could also offer great cooperation opportunities, according to Tokayev.
“We plan to increase our exports of IT products and services to $1 billion and to strengthen our human capital by training 100,000 globally competitive IT-specialists by 2025. We are open for various types of cooperation with our German partners, including the launch of R&D projects, startups, education, connectivity and others,” said the President.
Tokayev invited German business people to participate in implementing projects aimed at diversifying the economy of Kazakhstan, including opening new production facilities and introducing advanced German technologies.
Following the meeting, Tokayev held bilateral talks with several German business leaders.
