Agrts worth $40mn signed on 1st day of Kazakh-Russian Interregional Coop Forum

OMSK. KAZINFORM Minister of Trade and Integration Bakhyt Sultanov unveiled the preliminary results of the XVI Kazakh-Russian Interregional Cooperation Forum being held in Omsk, Kazinform reports.

According to him, agreements worth $40mn or more than 15bn tenge have already been signed.

«Thanks to such business forums and direct contacts, Kazakhstani entrepreneurs gain additional opportunities,» he said.

The Minister added, that the issue of elimination of trade barriers was discussed during the panel sessions and at a meeting of the Kazakh-Russian Business Council.

In his words, commodity turnover between Kazakhstan and Russia has increased by 3.5 times in 16 years of holding the interregional cooperation forums.

«Our major export position is raw products. Now our objective is to raise the share of processed products,» the Minister noted.

The 1st Forum of Interregional Cooperation was held in April 2003 in Omsk. Since 2005, it has been held annually. The heads of state met in Chelyabinsk, Uralsk, Novosibirsk, Aktobe, Orenburg, Ust Kamenogorsk, Astrakhan, Pavlodar, Yekaterinburg, Atyrau, Sochi, Nur-Sultan and Petropavlovsk. More than 175 agreements and treaties were signed during the 15 forums.

The XVI Kazakh-Russian Interregional Cooperation Forum kicked off in Omsk on November 6.