Minister of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, Aidarbek Saparov, met with the head of the Ministry of Agriculture of Azerbaijan, Majnun Mammadov. The meeting took place during the visit of President Tokayev to Azerbaijan, QazMonitor reports citing the press service of the Ministry.
Agricultural trade: Aidarbek Saparov noted that the priority is to increase the volume of mutual agricultural product trade.
At the end of 2023, the volume of bilateral trade in agricultural products between the two countries nearly halved reaching about $75 million. This year, Kazakhstan’s export profile to Azerbaijan introduced new commodity items such as cattle, meat, and poultry by-products. The sides exchanged lists of interested producers of agricultural products. Both countries will increase the number of export and import goods.
Veterinary requirements: According to the Minister, the countries work on lifting veterinary restrictions bilaterally. In February 2023, the two countries agreed on veterinary certificates for the export of processed meat products, and cattle and small livestock for breeding and slaughter from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan. To expand the range of mutual trade, the Ministry will continue to work on the coordination of veterinary and sanitary requirements for milk and dairy products, poultry meat and poultry products.
New products: Aidarbek Saparov emphasized that Kazakhstan is interested in supplying sunflower oil, confectionery, chocolate, butter, ice cream, meat, and other products to the Azerbaijani market. This will expand Kazakhstan’s export supplies by over $75 million. Kazakhstan is also interested in importing fresh fruit, vegetables, and nuts from Azerbaijan.
Investment: The Kazakh Ministry of Agriculture is interested in increased investment cooperation. Minister Saparov emphasized that the agro-industrial sector of Kazakhstan has great potential and invited Azerbaijani partners to consider investment opportunities in the agro-industrial sector. He emphasized the importance of developing projects for the processing of oilseeds, potatoes, sugar beets, fruits and vegetables, meat, milk, deep processed grain, as well as the production of baby foods.
Aidarbek Saparov invited Majnun Mammadov to the member meeting of the Organization of Turkic States and the Turkic Agro Business Forum, which will be held from March 19 to 21 in Taraz.
