PAKISTAN AND KAZAKHSTAN SHOULD ENHANCE BILATERAL RELATIONS FOR THEIR MUTUAL BENEFIT – ICCI PRESIDENT

Pakistan considers Kazakhstan as one of the leading nations in Central Asia and attaches great importance to the development of bilateral relations with it, stated Muhammad Ijaz Abbasi, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry while exchanging views with Mr.Aidar Gundubayev, Deputy Head of Mission / Incharge d’ Affairs, Kazakhstan Embassy who called on him at ICCI. He said the two countries have great potential to further strengthen close cooperation in various fields and stressed upon the need to increase business people contacts to translate their close brotherly ties into more meaningful economic relations and identify the areas where the two countries can enhance business relations for the betterment of their economies and for the welfare of people.

Muhammad Ijaz Abbasi said Kazakhstan is an energy rich country while Pakistan is a fast developing country and it needs more energy to meet the rising energy needs of its growing economy, thus, there is sufficient scope to enhance cooperation in this field. He said trade figures of the two countries are not very encouraging while there is lot more potential to enhance trade volume for their mutual benefit. He emphasized for frequent exchange of trade delegations between the two countries to explore business and investment potential. He said ICCI is planning to take a business delegation in near future to Central Asia to explore business opportunities in these countries.

ICCI President said Pakistan is a country of young population which is becoming an attractive market and invited Kazakhstan investors to come to Pakistan and invest in different sectors of its economy to reap phenomenal returns.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr.Aidar Gundubayev, Deputy Head of Mission / Incharge d’ Affairs, Kazakhstan Embassy said Kazakhstan feels proud of its very old relations Pakistan and considers it as one of our major business partner. He said National Bank of Pakistan has a branch in Almati (Kazakhstan) which shows the importance of close relations between the two countries. He said during 2007, mutual trade between the two countries was around US$ 27 million which is rising fast. He said Russia and China are the biggest trade partners of Kazakhstan and said that Pakistan also has lot of potential to enhance its trade with Kazakhstan. He said Karakoram Highway is playing a major role in increasing Pakistan’s economic ties with Central Asia including Kazakhstan.

Mr. Aidar Gundubayev said Kazakhstan is holding 11th Kazakhstan International "Transport and Logistics" Exhibition from  September 24-26, 2008 at Astana which will cover all sectors of transport like air transport, motor transport, railway transport, maritime transport, intermodal shipment, courier services, logistics, goods transportation equipment, ports & terminals and invited Pakistani companies doing business in these sectors to participate in this event to look for more business and investment opportunities in Kazakhstan. He said Kazakhstan is blessed with many natural resources like oil, gas, coal, iron ore, chromites, lead, zinc, copper, gold, silver, phosphates, sulfur, iron and steel, tractors and other agriculture machinery, electric motors, construction materials industries and stressed for the need to enhance mutual trade in these areas between the two countries. He said Kazakhstan will establish Free Trade Zone in Almati where investors will be provided attractive incentives including tax free environment.
 
He said being an energy deficient country; Pakistan can import oil and gas products from Kazakhstan at cheaper rates. He said Kazakhstan is interested to import rice, sugar and meat products, equipment and technology from Pakistan.

In the end, Mr.Aidar Gundubayev thanked ICCI President for giving him a warm reception and hoped that with the passage of time, bilateral ties between Pakistan and Kazakhstan will be further strengthened.