NEWS

Akim of the WKO Gali Iskaliev held a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Lithuania to the Republic of Kazakhstan Gintautas Vasiulis.

The meeting was devoted to the development of cooperation in various areas. During the meeting, the parties shared promising areas for investment.

Gintautas Vasiulis emphasized the historical ties between the peoples of the two countries and spoke about the interest of Lithuanian businessmen in expanding the horizon of joint work.

- Last year, the trade turnover between our countries exceeded 1.5 billion euros, including Kazakhstani exports to Lithuania amounted to more than 1 billion euros. These are mainly mineral, raw materials, fish, agricultural products. Today, 115 enterprises with Lithuanian capital operate in Kazakhstan, - said the Ambassador of Lithuania.

G. Vasiulis highlighted the opportunities for cooperation in the field of high-tech agriculture, food, chemical, engineering, metalworking, IT-technologies, transport and logistics.

- This year, a large Lithuanian-Kazakh business forum is planned, within which it is planned to resume the activities of the Lithuanian-Kazakhstan Business Council. We see ourselves as a gateway for Kazakhstan to the markets of the European Union. There are great opportunities to process raw materials that are available in Kazakhstan, bring them to a semi-finished product and send them through logistics channels to Lithuania, where they will produce the final product, which can be served duty-free to the EU markets, - said the Ambassador of Lithuania.

During the meeting, the akim of the region said that within a radius of 700 km from the region there is a 25 million market. The head of the region noted the high level of transport and logistics development of Lithuanian companies and shared his intentions to create a platform for cargo storage.

- We are completing the construction of an airport terminal, in the immediate vicinity of which we plan to give 200 hectares for a logistics transshipment area. Today, Russia and China have shown interest. Carrying cargo from Europe to Central Asia and China and back takes a lot of time and effort.

We are ready to talk with your transport and logistics companies regarding the provision of infrastructure and land for warehouses, - the regional akim emphasized.

Foreign investors are also interested in building a cargo terminal for air cargo. The offer, meanwhile, is open to everyone.

The region is also interested in the processing of raw materials. Animal husbandry is developed in WKO - 700 thousand cattle, 1.5 million small cattle. Companies export meat to Arab countries, China and the Russian Federation.

– We are interested in the idea of ​​primary meat processing in WKO and further processing in Lithuania.

We are interested in building a large meat processing plant, as well as establishing milk production,” the head of the region said.

WKO produces 35% of gas in Kazakhstan and there is a prospect of increasing this volume. In this regard, the region is interested in the processing of raw gas, gas chemistry and the supply of components to oil and gas companies. In addition, the region is interested in creating joint companies in the areas of IT technologies, attracting the best technical universities, and developing medicine.

It is worth noting that in the middle of this year it is planned to establish an Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Lithuania in Uralsk, which will give impetus to progress on specific projects.

It is also planned to organize a business mission of local representatives of the agriculture and food industry to Lithuania.

At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed on further cooperation for the benefit of the development of bilateral relations.