Kazakhstan to Expand Trade with Ukraine

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Trade and Integration has shared its plans to increase trade with Ukraine.

On Tuesday, August 18, the second meeting of the working group on this issue was held. Kairat Torebaev, Kazakhstani Vice Minister of Trade, and Taras Kachka, Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Economical Development, Trade and Agriculture, participated in the meeting along with interested government agencies and organizations.

In 2019, the mutual trade volume between the two countries decreased by 7.4% and amounted to $1.3 billion. In the first half of 2020, mutual trade between Kazakhstan and Ukraine amounted to $398 million, which is 36.7% lower than in the same period last year ($629.1 million). At the same time, Kazakhstani export to Ukraine decreased by 51.2% ($225.3 million), while import from Ukraine rose by 3.3% ($172.7 million).

At the meeting, the participants talked about implementation of the first operational conclusions and discussed and agreed upon the operational conclusions of the second meeting. Those include key actions, implementation of which should positively affect the increase of mutual trade volumes.

Particular attention was paid to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on bilateral trade and possible ways to enhance trade and economic collaboration.

Today, Kazakhstan can increase supply of processed products to the Ukrainian market: that’s 70 types of goods from the metallurgical, petrochemical, food, chemical and engineering industries, as well as construction materials for the total sum of $349.5 million. This list will be sent to the Ukrainian side via diplomatic channels.