In a bid to boost trade and investment between India and Kazakhstan, Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) organised a special session on ‘Kazakhstan-India Investment Forum’ on Friday.
Ambassador of Kazakhstan to India, Bulat Sarsenbayev, who was the chief guest at the event elaborated about the strong Indo–Kazakhstan relationship since historic times. He pointed out that the relationship had been raised to a strategic high with the visit of Kazakhstan President to India in 2009 and the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015. With a GDP of USD 160 billion and a population of 18.2 million, Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world. It is the fifth largest producer and exporter of wheat and grains and the Bread Basket in CIS region with more than 80 per cent of land under cultivation. He said that around 460 Indian companies were registered in Kazakhstan.
He painted a rosy picture of Kazakhstan saying that the resources, power, tech support are all conducive to doing business. Talking of communication and logistics he said,
There are 11 flights from India to Kazakhstan per week, and with Indigo and Spice Jet having a flight almost every day, it would go up to 24. Road transport is a hurdle, which would be addressed very soon with the commissioning of proposed North-South Transport Corridor, connecting Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran-India. This would not only enhance India–Kazakhstan trade substantially, but would also increase India’s trade with Central Asia through Kazakhstan.
He added that Kazakhstan is the only country in Central Asia to have invested in India and which can partner India in financial sector. He urged the business community to come to Kazakhstan to explore the possibilities, to identify new areas of cooperation, as also to invest in the projects. A Special Working Group set up to look into the issues on transportation and logistics will meet in May 2019 in New Delhi.
Marat Birimzhan, deputy chairman of the national investment promotion board ‘Kazakh Invest’ said Kazakhstan being the regional hub for finance in central Asia, by localising production in Kazakhstan, India could have bigger market access to Europe, Russia, and CIS countries without any customs duty.
In his welcome address, Vishal Jhajharia, president of the Chamber and Hony. Consul General–Designate of Kazakhstan in Kolkata said that in 2017–18, total bilateral trade between India and Kazakhstan amounted to US$ 981.8, out of which exports from Kazakhstan was to the tune of US$ 757.14 million, and exports from India was US$ 224.66 million. Trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $1.2 billion at the end of 2018, showing a 26.5 percent increase compared to a year earlier.
MCCI and Kazakh Invest will sign an MoU on April 6, 2019. The MoU will facilitate more business delegation exchanges, create better opportunities for two-way trade and commerce and optimise mutual synergies between India and Kazakhstan.
