Kazakhstan offers Jordan to export greengrocery in spring and winter
"We regard Jordan as the major member of the international community that plays an important role in the Middle East, the Arab world. February next year will mark the 25th Anniversary since the diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Jordan were established, and we are meeting on the cusp of this date. For a quarter-century, we have developed our relations in various fields and built a trust-based dialogue. All this is in virtue of King Abdullah's warm attitude to Kazakhstan. As a result of King of Jordan's forward-looking policy, the country continues to maintain the status of the oasis of security and stability in the Middle East. And I think we are ready to continue win-win relations between our states in the future. The most important is that Kazakhstan considers Jordan, and its people, as a fraternal, close state," Nursultan Nazarbayev told the reporters after the talks in Akorda.
According to him, the countries are now making efforts to intensify the trade and investment ties. "The main problem for the export and import development is a high cost of transportation, and, therefore, it is necessary to improve the transport and logistics channels. Because of this, the trading volume is not high. During the negotiations, we talked about that. Now, there is a new road, Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran. This helps us improve our relations," the President said.
The Head of State outlined a number of priorities for trade and economic cooperation the countries should focus on. "First, it is agriculture. In that area, we have a great potential for development. For instance, Kazakhstan can export agricultural products to Jordan, and Jordan can export vegetables and fruits to us in winter and spring via railroads, and so on," Nursultan Nazarbayev highlighted.
In the meantime, according to the Head of State, pharmaceutical industry and energy sector are also considered as productive fields for cooperation. "A Jordanian company began constructing a pharmaceutical plant in Almaty. If everything is fine, we have every opportunity to improve that industry. Moreover, Jordan, in the same way as Kazakhstan, shows interest in developing the alternative energy sources," Nursultan Nazarbayev clarified.
Another line of the cooperation is about tackling the global challenges, such as terrorism and religious extremism. "To improve the cooperation, we have already charged the intergovernmental commission with considering these problems. (...) In order to combat these problems together, the security services of our countries must work together. Today, we have signed a number of documents," the President of Kazakhstan stressed.
It is noteworthy that in the course of the official visit of Jordan's leader, the sides have signed the agreement on cooperation in fighting terrorism, organized crime, illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, and precursors, and other types of crimes. They also signed bilateral agreements on the extradition of persons, on the transfer of convicted persons, legal assistance for criminal cases, and on cooperation in civil defense, prevention and response to emergencies.