Tokayev proposes to increases trade turnover with Central Asian states to US$15 billion

The trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Central Asian states may grow up to US$15 billion. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed to increase the indicators at the Consultative Meeting of the Heads of States of Central Asia. The president highlighted that over the past five years, the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and the neighboring countries increased by 42 percent, accounting for over US$6 billion. However, the figure does not reflect the full potential that the parties have. The reserves for building up cooperation in this area are huge, Tokayev summarized.

“The threat of the impending global recession, largely caused by sanctions wars and growing protectionism, brings to the fore the issue of accelerated development of regional economic cooperation. In the context of collapsing production and trade supply chains, the trend towards regionalization is becoming more apparent and ubiquitous. Amid these changes, the indicators of trade between our countries that I have provided still do not reflect the full potential. The Central Asian regional economic cooperation may well become, if not the main, then at least one of the key sources of growth for our national economies,” the Head of State said.