Kazakhstan aims to expand the range of commodities passing through the Khorgos International Center for Cross-Border Cooperation and increase the trade turnover between Central Asia and China up to $100 billion by 2030, QazMonitor reports.
At the opening of the China-Central Asia Cooperation Forum in Xiamen, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to China, Shakhrat Nuryshev, informed the participants that in 2022 the trade turnover between Central Asia and China amounted to $70 billion, with Kazakhstan’s share exceeding $31 billion. He also highlighted that in 2023, the Kazakh-Chinese trade turnover has grown by 25% reaching $22 billion.
Nuryshev mentioned that earlier President Tokayev had suggested exploring the potential of Chinese internet giants Alibaba Group and Joybuy in expanding the joint promotion of products and even creating a unified e-commerce platform.
"The President invites partners to store their goods in Kazakhstan's customs warehouses, which will reduce the time of delivery of goods to consumers between Central Asian countries and China, as well as increase the volume of mutual trade between the six countries," added Nuryshev.
The ambassador also addressed other initiatives proposed by the Kazakh side on deepening multilateral cooperation in agriculture.
Kazakhstan is among the world's top ten wheat and flour producers, exporting over 5 million tons of grain and 1.5 million tons of flour annually. Therefore, the President noted Kazakhstan's interest in increasing the volume and diversifying the structure of export supplies of agro-industrial goods to neighboring countries through the supply of grain and oilseed crops, high-quality and environmentally friendly meat, organic products, and the introduction of digital and green technologies in the sphere of the agro-industrial complex.
In this regard, the Kazakh side proposes to establish a joint food hub on the basis of the Khorgos International Center for Cross-Border Cooperation.