Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov held talks with the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili during Garibashvili's official state visit to Kazakhstan, Qazmonitor reports with reference to the prime minister's press service.
During the meeting, the two parties discussed issues of trade and economic cooperation, expansion of mutual investments and business contacts, development of tourist potential, the opening of new flights, as well as cooperation in the cultural and humanitarian sphere.
Garibashvili noted that Kazakhstan and Georgia have great potential to expand cooperation in many areas, including food security and cargo transportation.
An important topic of discussion was the issue of the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. The two sides noted that, in order to increase its competitiveness, it is necessary to remove infrastructural constraints in the railway sections and sea ports as well as to review the existing tariffs.
In addition, the Prime Minister highlighted the importance of the development of tourism potential between our countries, including in terms of 'eco-tourism' and 'ethno-tourism'.
Kazakhstan has 34 direct flights to Georgia at present. Twelve airports in Kazakhstan introduced an open skies regime for foreign airlines, which provides for the removal of all restrictions on the number of flights.
As a result of the meeting, the parties signed a number of bilateral documents: Roadmap to expand the nomenclature of mutual trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Georgia for 2023-2026, the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, and the Memorandum of Cooperation between JSC "NC "Kazakhstan Temir Zholy" and JSC "Georgian Railway".