Kazakhstan, Pakistan expand cooperation
Celina Ali
Islamabad: In 2024, Kazakhstan and Pakistan intend to expand their cooperation, primarily in the trade and economic sphere.
To this end, the two countries plan to fortify interaction between their transportation authorities and logistics companies. Kazakh Ambassador to Pakistan Yerzhan Kistafin outlined the opportunities and prospects of the bilateral relations in an interview.
He noted that the Pakistani market is of great interest to Kazakhstan, which can supply agroindustrial products in large quantities to the country with a population of nearly 250 million people. Moreover, Kazakhstan gains access to the markets of Southeast African states by developing trade ties with Pakistan. In general, Kazakhstan is ready to export up to 40 types of products worth $21 million to Pakistan.
“We are talking about agricultural products, as well as machinery production. Additionally, negotiations are underway for supplying our energy resources to the Pakistani market. In order to foster trade and economic cooperation between Kazakhstan and Pakistan, it is crucial to establish an efficient transport and logistics system,” said Kazakh Ambassador to Pakistan Yerzhan Kistafin.
The countries intend to continue building both political dialogue and cultural-humanitarian ties. This year, a delegation from the National Assembly of Pakistan is scheduled to visit Kazakhstan in return. Also, Pakistani Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar is expected to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Astana. In turn, a Kazakh delegation led by Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov will visit Islamabad for the meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the SCO.
“As part of these multilateral events, we also expect conducting a high-level bilateral meeting between our countries. Within the development of cultural and humanitarian cooperation, I would like to highlight that this year we have completed the translation of Abai’s ‘Words of Edification’ into the languages of Pakistan’s provinces. Additionally, in collaboration with the Kazakh National University and the National University of Modern Languages in Islamabad, we have successfully completed the Kazakh-Urdu-English phrasebook, a project that spanned a year. Besides, we are actively promoting inter-university cooperation,” Kistafin added.
