Kazakh leader Kassym-Jomart Tokayev highlighted the successful outcomes of today’s talks with his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon, which, according to him, reaffirmed both sides’ firm commitment to steadily strengthening multifaceted cooperation, Qazinform News Agency cites Akorda.
“In an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect, we discussed a wide range of issues and outlined the main priorities for cooperation between our countries. We gave foremost attention to expanding trade and economic ties. Thanks to our joint efforts, bilateral trade is steadily approaching 2 billion US dollars.
This places Kazakhstan among Tajikistan’s three largest foreign trading partners. The esteemed President Emomali Rahmon and I agreed to take the necessary steps to further increase bilateral trade. To achieve this goal, we adopted a Roadmap for Increasing Trade through 2030 today.
The governments have been instructed to ensure its effective implementation,” Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said. According to the President of Kazakhstan, there is considerable untapped potential in the agricultural sector. Last year, shipments of agricultural products between our countries increased by 11 per cent to around 600 million US dollars, accounting for half of total trade.
Following the talks, both countries expressed their readiness to expand mutual supplies of food products. To develop cooperation in this area, the two sides discussed the possibility of establishing full production chains for processing agricultural products. The Head of State then identified the implementation of joint projects that would become new “growth points” for the economies of both countries as an important task.
He said mutually beneficial partnership in energy, oil and gas, mining and metallurgy, and processing industries offered considerable prospects. He noted that the Kazakhstan-Tajikistan Business Forum, which was held ahead of the visit, confirmed the mutual interest of entrepreneurs from both countries in establishing contacts across many areas.
Earlier, Qazinform reported Presidents of Kazakhstan and Tajikistan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Emomali Rahmon had held a joint press briefing following the talks in Astana.