ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s exports to the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) increased by 90% from $5.1 billion in 2015 to $9.7 billion in 2022, Minister of Trade and Integration Arman Shakkaliyev said on Dec. 25 in the Mazhilis, the lower chamber of the Kazakh Parliament, the ministry’s press service reported.
Photo credit: kapital.kz
In seven years, Kazakhstan’s mutual trade with partners grew 74% from $16.3 billion in 2015 to $28 billion at the end of 2022.
As for this year, the country removed ten barriers, including eliminating unequal conditions when collecting VAT for agricultural machinery in the Kyrgyz Republic, lifting restrictions on access to pharmacies for medicines from the EAEU countries in Belarus, and removing a barrier in government procurement for machine tool products in Russia.
According to Shakkaliyev, general criteria for industrial processing have been developed for about 450 commodity items in 17 industries to ensure mutual access to procurement by EAEU countries.
Besides that, the list of goods with a certificate of origin has been expanded by 173 items, which is expected to boost Kazakhstan’s exports to partner countries’ markets with a volume of over $100 billion annually.
The minister spoke about prospects that open up for agreements on a free trade zone with third countries. The agreements increased trade turnover with Iran by 38% to $521 million over three years, a three-fold growth with Serbia up to $73.8 million over the year, and a 2.5-fold rise with Vietnam to $525.7 million over seven years.
