The first high-level meeting on economic cooperation between Kazakhstan and the United States took place on October 18 in Washington. Co-chair of the commission from the Kazakh side was Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan Bakhyt Sultanov, from the American side – US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.
The meeting of the commission was carried out in accordance with the agreements reached between the First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and the President of the United States Donald Trump during Nazarbayev’s official visit to Washington in January 2018, as well as business meetings of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in New York in September 2019.
During the meeting, the parties reaffirmed their commitment to further deepen the expanded strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and the United States, noting with satisfaction the growth in mutual trade and investment. In addition, the Head of the Ministry of Trade of Kazakhstan noted the presence of significant potential for increasing Kazakhstani exports. So, at present 50 items of goods worth about $1 billion can be additionally delivered to the American market.
According to the parties, the high dynamics of bilateral contacts at the highest level contributes to economic growth and the creation of new jobs in both countries.
The ministers discussed the implementation of large joint investment and commercial projects, as well as identified promising areas of bilateral cooperation, including in the field of agriculture, energy, industry, high technology, tourism and the commercialization of space.
The agenda of the meeting included issues of interaction in the framework of multilateral mechanisms, including the WTO and OECD.
The co-chairs of the high-level group also noted the need for mutually beneficial use of the capabilities of the US Corporation for International Development Financing and the Astana International Financial Center.
Following the meeting, Sultanov and Ross agreed to consider the possibility of holding the second meeting of the high-level group on economic cooperation in Nur-Sultan next year.
