According to primeminister.kz, the activation of cooperation in trade and economic and transport and logistics spheres were discussed by Alikhan Smailov, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Lin Wu, Secretary of the Party Committee of Shandong Province of China. As it was noted by Head of the Government, more than 6% of the total volume of trade between Kazakhstan and China falls on Shandong today. However, further promotion of Kazakhstan’s goods in the Chinese market and the search for new areas of cooperation is important for the country. This highlights a particular relevance of the development of transportation potential and deepening of cooperation within the framework of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. The launch of the first return train on the route “China – Europe” for the delivery of Kazakh barley to the PRC, which took place the day before in Almaty, will facilitate this task. According to Alikhan Smailov, Kazakhstan is ready to increase the supply of Kazakhstani products along this route and expand the range of supplied goods and services. The importance of holding in Astana a Kazakh-Chinese forum on cooperation with Shandong Province was also emphasized by Prime Minister. He added that productive trade and investment interaction between the two countries’ business circles will be undoubtedly expanded by this event. The establishment of productive cooperation between Shandong Province and the regions of Kazakhstan was emphasized by Lin Wu in turn. Simultaneously, cooperation in the areas of deep processing of agricultural products, trade and construction of logistics infrastructure has a great potential to be expanded. Representatives of more than 100 enterprises of Shandong Province in the above sectors visited the event this time. A number of joint trade and economic projects is expected to be signed. According to Lin Wu, the both sides expressed their confidence in their future cooperation’s extension and deepening the partnership between their enterprises and realization of more joint projects, achieved through common efforts. Shandong Province is China’s important agricultural production area located on the east coast of the country. Wheat, cotton, peanuts, tobacco, bast crops, etc. are grown there. This province is one of China’s major horticultural and field-growing areas, leading aquaponics and silk cocoon breeding centers. A Memorandum of Cooperation under which Kazakhstan Temir Zholy and Shandong Port Group, China’s largest port operator, agreed to develop multimodal container services and related digital products was signed in December 2022.
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