Trade, economic cooperation between Kazakhstan, Switzerland discussed in Davos

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - The Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Mr Erbolat Dossaev met with the Minister of Economy, Education and Science of the Swiss Confederation Mr Guy Parmelin on the sidelines of the 49th annual session of the World Economic Forum, Kazinform has learnt from the Kazakh MFA's press service.

The meeting was attended by the Ambassador of Kazakhstan in Switzerland, Mrs Zhanar Aitzhanova, and the Head of the Department of Bilateral Economic Relations of the State Secretariat for the Economy of Switzerland, Ambassador Mr Erwin Bollinger.

During the meeting, the Swiss Minister highly appreciated the level of Kazakh-Swiss relations and the development of economic cooperation between the two countries. As it is known, Switzerland is one of the biggest investors in the Kazakh economy. The volume of Kazakh-Swiss turnover in 2018 exceeded $ 2.5 billion. About 40 Swiss companies including financial institutions, chemical and pharmaceutical and construction concerns are represented on the domestic market.

In his turn, E. Dossaev expressed his hope for the intensification of trade and economic partnership in the light of the agreements reached during the visit of the Swiss delegation to Kazakhstan in July 2018 to familiarize themselves with the implementation of infrastructure projects under the "Belt and Road" initiative and the state program "Nurly Zhol", including the transport and logistics potential of the Mangistau region. The Deputy Prime Minister invited Swiss companies to take part in the implementation of projects within the framework of "Nurly Zhol" and noted the wide range of tax preferences provided in Kazakhstan for investors.

G. Parmelin confirmed the high interest of the Swiss side in strengthening Kazakh-Swiss cooperation, including by expanding the bilateral legal framework. Noting significant progress in the negotiations on the draft Agreement on the mutual recognition of official hallmarks on precious metal products and the draft Agreement on Trade of Services, the Minister stressed that the signing of these documents will increase the mutual trade and investment from Swiss companies into Kazakhstan's service sector.

The sides also discussed issues related with the next meeting of the Kazakh-Swiss Trade and Economic Commission, scheduled to carry out in 2019.

During the Kazakh delegation's working trip to Switzerland on January 22-23, 2019, meetings with a number of WEF participants from official, academic, financial and business circles were also held.