On the eve of the next meeting of the Kazakh-French Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, which will be held in Paris on April 29th, as well as the visit to Kazakhstan next month of the Minister of Foreign Trade of France Frank Riester, accompanied by the leaders of a number of French companies, a regular meeting of the Business Council was held via videoconference. During a substantive dialogue, the parties discussed topical issues of deepening investment cooperation in such priority sectors as digitalization, agriculture and agroindustry, alternative energy, Delovoy Kazakhstan reports.
More than a hundred participants representing the business communities of the two countries, government bodies and subjects of the quasi-public sector gathered on the virtual platform with the assistance «KAZAKH INVEST» and the Association of French Entrepreneurs «MEDEF INTERNATIONAL». The French delegation included heads of world famous companies such as «Air Liquide», «Orano», «Total Eren», «Vicat», «Thales», «Idemia», «ADP Ingénierie», as well as «BPI France» and «ADEPTA».
The co-chairs of the Business Council Aidan Karibzhanov and Yves-Louis Darriccarere made a welcoming speech.
In turn, Zhandos Temirgali Managing Director of «KAZAKH INVEST», noted that despite the pandemic, which led to a decrease in trade and investment flow between the countries in 2020, maximum efforts were made to restore business activity and return bilateral economic indicators to the pre-crisis level in the near future. «This has contributed significantly to some progress and concrete results in the implementation of new investment projects», he said.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan Ruslan Baimishev presented an overview of economic interaction between the countries, and Head of Digital Transformation department of digital development, innovations and aerospace Republic of Kazakhstan Nazgul Bazhayeva and Managing Director of «Baiterek» National Managing Holding JSC Murat Daribayev briefed the meeting participants on the achievements of Kazakhstan in the development of digitalization of public services and agro-industrial complex.
Based on the results of the presentations, discussions were organized, during which French companies were actively interested in investment opportunities in Kazakhstan and received comprehensive answers. In addition, the parties exchanged views on a wide range of issues of further development of bilateral cooperation.
Summing up the results of the event, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to France Jean Galiev emphasized the importance of enhancing interaction through the Business Council, as one of the institutional instruments of the Kazakh-French strategic partnership, which has entered the second ten-year phase of its development. In the context of preparing the upcoming high-level meetings, he called on all interested parties to take part in expanding economic cooperation in areas of mutual interest and to contribute to the formation of its content.