Kazakh Trade and Integration Minister Bakhyt Sultanov paid working visit to Belgium

BRUSSELS. KAZINFORM - As part of the two-day working visit to Belgium Kazakh Trade and Integration Minister Bakhyt Sultanov held a number of meetings with officials and parliamentarians of the European Union as well as reps of Belgium businesses to discuss the trade and economic relations and Kazakhstan’s presidency of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva, Kazinform correspondent reports.

While meeting with Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice President of the European Commission the progress on the bilateral trade relations, «green» economy, and interaction within the WTO were under discussion.

In his commentary to Kazinform, Sultanov noted that the EU-Kazakhstan Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement creates favorable conditions for economic relations as Kazakh-EU trade demonstrates growth despite the pandemic.

For his part, Valdis Dombrovskis called for using the Agreement’s potential to jointly develop markets of health, «green» economy, and agriculture. The sides also coordinated the issues of WTO reforms.

The WTO’s response measures against the pandemic and priorities of Kazakhstan’s WTO presidency at MC-12 were discussed at the meeting between Bakhyt Sultanov and Bernd Lange, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade, member of the WTO Parliamentary Conference. The sides highlighted the special importance of the upcoming visit of Kazakh Head of State Tokayev to Brussels to strengthen interaction between Kazakhstan and the EU.

The Kazakh Trade and Integration Minister also held a meeting with Ryszard Czarnecki, Head of the Friendship Group «EU-Kazakhstan».

At a meeting with Kunio Mikuriya Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO), Sultanov paid attention to the importance of cooperation in cross border movement of vital pharmaceuticals and vaccines. The issues of development of transit potential in the East-West direction, especially the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, connecting the railway terminals of the EU and China.

As part of his visit to the headquarters of Tessenderlo Group, CEO Luc Tack familiarized the Kazakh delegation with the Group’s activity and its companies.