Between the 4th and the 6th of October Kazakhstan’s capital city of Astana will be hosting one of the biggest transport and logistics service and technologies exhibitions in Central Asia “TransLogistica Kazakhstan 2023”.
Prior to the start of this massive transport and logistics event a delegation of businessmen from Latvia, which included the Latvian Stevedoring Company Association (LSA), have been on a visit to Astana as part of “Latvian-Kazakhstan: new cooperation perspectives” business visit in order to reach out to Kazakh businesses and discuss future cooperation.
The visit of Latvian business delegation to Astana on the 11th-14th of September was organised with assistance from the Kazakhstan Embassy in Latvia and Latvian Embassy in Kazakhstan. The delegation includes representatives of Latvia’s biggest industry associations and trade unions, sea ports, leading transport and logistics, as well as IT and pharmacological companies. The central event of this visit was a round-table discussion “Kazakhstan-Latvia: new cooperation perspectives” in the international finance centre in Astana.
During their visit, members of the Latvian delegation met with members of the parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazakh Invest Agency, as well as the management of Astana’s International Finance Centre. For businessmen representing the transport and logistics sector it was highly important to meet with Kazakhstan’s Association of Mining and Metallurgical Companies. The two sides discussed opportunities for future cooperation.
Businessmen of both countries discussed economic cooperation perspectives for Kazakhstan and Latvia. The two sides outlined as priorities joint efforts in transport and logistics, implementation of projects in the mechanical engineering and pharmaceutical sector and agro-industrial complex, as well as in other areas of manufacturing.
LSA Council chairman Ivars Landmanis stresses that closer cooperation with Central Asian countries, especially Kazakhstan,
is vital for Latvia’s economic interests.
He adds that companies working in the transit sector see a great deal of potential in exports of Kazakh freight, which is already successfully implemented. “Cooperation between Kazakh and Latvian businesses is important for both countries, because both Kazakhstan and Latvia want to maintain their development and competitiveness through new cooperation opportunities and projects. LSA is truly happy with the high praise Kazakh businesses gave Latvia’s sea port infrastructure, service quality and speed, as well as the will of both countries to continue cooperation,” says I.Landmanis.
Freight transports between the two countries in 2022, when compared with 2021, has increased by nearly four times. The mutual trade turnover between Latvia and Kazakhstan reached USD 216 million last year, which is 3.5 times more when compared with 2021. Exports from Kazakhstan increased more than five-fold and were worth nearly USD 182 million. Imports increased by 40.7%, reaching USD 161 million.
Latvian sea ports are used to carry Kazakh freight to the EU and other countries and vice versa –
from the west to Kazakhstan.
The majority of exports consist of agricultural products, natural gas, coal and petroleum products, but imports are mainly food products, medicines, heavy machinery and equipment.
Maxim Kononov, Executive Director of the Kazakh Association of Mining and Metallurgical Companies, said during the meeting that he is prepared to further promote cooperation between the two countries. At the same time, he invites Latvian businessmen to consider the option to introduce flexible tariffs for Kazakh companies.
Ivars Landmanis stressed: “Cooperation founded on the principle of mutual benefit with Central Asian countries’ businesses is the is the axis on which not only the competitiveness of the Latvian transit industry rests, it also represents an opportunity to successfully continue the development of Latvian ports, thus strengthening the Latvian economy.”
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