ArmInfo.Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is convinced that despite the growth in bilateral trade turnover, there is still unrealized potential between Armenia and Kazakhstan in terms of developing trade and economic cooperation, stimulating investment and developing infrastructure ties and trade.
Armenia's premier made a relevant statement on April 15 at a joint briefing with President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Yerevan.
According to Pashinyan, Tokayev's visit is important for the further development of multi-sphere cooperation between Armenia and Kazakhstan. In this context, the Armenian prime minister pointed out, the parties touched upon the dynamically developing bilateral agenda and discussed joint steps aimed at expanding it and raising it to a qualitatively new level.
Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that the visit is taking place at a symbolic period for the two countries - September this year marks the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Armenia and Kazakhstan. "The high level of political dialogue between Armenia and Kazakhstan is once again confirmed by the jointly signed statement, which plays a special role for the further development of bilateral relations and giving them a new impetus," noted the RA Prime Minister.
The head of the Armenian Cabinet of Ministers said that during today's negotiations the parties discussed the prospects for expanding bilateral relations, including in the field of transport and logistics. Pashinyan and Tokayev also discussed the prospects for cooperation in such areas as education, culture, and IT.
The RA Prime Minister said that the issue of opening a park named after St. Mesrop Mashtots in Astana is being discussed. At the same time, on the basis of reciprocity, the issue of opening a park named after Abay (Ibrahim) Kunanbayev in Yerevan is being discussed.
In the context of the latter, we touched upon the "Crossroads of the World" project presented by the Armenian government, the implementation of which can radically change the situation in the region," said Nikol Pashinyan.
According to the RA Stacommittee, foreign trade turnover between Armenia and Kazakhstan in 2023 jumped 2.4 times, amounting to $100.5 million. In particular, a significant increase in exports of 3.8 times was accompanied by an increase in imports by 23.6%, the volume which amounted to $71.3 million and $29.2 million, respectively. As a comparison, we note that in 2022, growth was also recorded in the direction of Kazakhstan, but then imports were at a high rate - 3 times, with exports growing by 67.4%, which is 2.2 times increased foreign trade turnover between Armenia and Kazakhstan. The volume of direct investments from Armenia to Kazakhstan amounted to $18.6 million, from Kazakhstan to Armenia - $56 million. Today, there are more than 380 companies with Armenian capital in Kazakhstan, 72 Kazakh- Armenian companies in various sectors of the economy, and in Armenia there are over 100 companies with Kazakh capital capital.