ASTANA – Dozens of entrepreneurs from the capital city participated at the first Khorgos international forum held July 15 as part of the Kazakh-Chinese trade fair at the Khorgos International Centre of Boundary Cooperation (ICBC). The goal was to support Kazakh goods and services in the Kazakh-Chinese market, according to the business mission report of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs (NCE).
Representatives of Kazakhstan’s National Chamber of Entrepreneurs and Kazakh enterpreneurs
The industry has an opportunity to learn from China and Kazakhstan, as the countries are at a progressive stage of economic development, noted NCE Director Gani Tasmaganbetov.
“Astana’s business community had their first going out to China that resulted in the first few steps. The country’s economic development is expressed through industrial production growth and the world’s leading positions in production of coal, steel, cement, grain, meat, cotton, oil and electricity,” he added. “Especially as we see great prospects for strategic partnership and have similar positions on many international issues.”
Economic cooperation between China and Kazakhstan is important to the development of the entire Central Asian region, according to an article on the NCE website. Kazakhstan and China border cooperation over the past two decades has become one of most significant and effective forms of economic and trade cooperation, a stability factor at the border and source of enhancing the living standards of the two states.
Khorgos ICBC is a public company established in November 2011 under an agreement between the governments of Kazakhstan and China to establish the centre at the border of the two nations in the Panfilov district of the Almaty region. The company has a developed infrastructure and a number of collaborative projects in its territory and many more that will allow expanding trade and economic opportunities for both countries still to come, reported the website article.
The akims (mayors) of the Panfilov and Uygur regions of the Almaty oblast, businesses, representatives of regional chambers of entrepreneurs and local government offices attended the forum from Kazakhstan’s side, while representatives of the People’s Government of Khorgos, directors of Chinese trading houses and businessmen spoke for China. Delegates and participants visited Khorgos and Chinese businessmen introduced trading areas granted to Kazakh entrepreneurs on concessional terms, said the article.
Kazakh and Chinese entrepreneurs exchanged experiences, marking the beginning of interaction between domestic and Chinese companies in the Khorgos territory and beyond, said the article. In their opinion, modern tools on the market to support Kazakh-Chinese goods and services are capable of attracting entrepreneurs from neighbouring countries, said the mission report.
Both sides discussed future projects in Kazakhstan and China as well as interaction procedures at the border area. The forum allowed participants to share more information about interaction opportunities between the countries within the expansion of trade along the Great Silk Road.
The Astana New City special economic zone (SEZ), preferential conditions of the industrial park, Smart Astana project and EXPO 2017 future energy exhibition were the investment projects introduced during the forum. The key aspects of the capital’sinvestment potential are Kazakhstan’s favourable investmentclimate, the Eurasian Economic Union, dynamic growth of city economics, SEZ and service support forinvestors, according to the NCE mission report.
Atameken, Kazakhstan’s National Chamber of Entrepreneurs, is a nonprofit organisation that represents the interests of small businesses and medium and large enterprises and encompasses all areas of entrepreneurship, including domestic and foreign trade.
Results reached during the visit will give a strong impulse for development of bilateral cooperation and open a new page in the relationship between China and Kazakhstan, said the article.
