In December, Astana hosted the Kazakhstan-Pakistan Business Forum as part of a meeting of the Kazakhstan-Pakistan Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Co-operation.
      The Foreign Trade Chamber of Kazakhstan organised the event. The main speakers of the Forum were Yerzhan Kistafin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and the First Deputy Minister of Economy of Pakistan. The Forum was attended by over 40 Pakistani companies, representatives of the business industry of Kazakhstan, employees of Kazakh Invest and others.
      At the invitation of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Pakistan, Executive Director of the Diplomatic Business Club Sayazhan Tuyakova took part in the forum.       As Yerzhan Kistafin noted in his speech, Kazakhstan is interested in promoting its products to Africa and Southeast Asia markets. Pakistan is the fifth largest market in the world in terms of volume, with a population of 242 million. In this regard, Pakistan can become an excellent logistics hub for access to new markets through its seaports.
      According to the Ambassador, the volume of trade turnover between the two countries for ten months of this year was 40 million US dollars. These figures are planned to increase due to the export of Kazakh products. Thus, domestic businessmen can supply Pakistan with more than 40 products worth more than 21 million U.S. dollars.
     The sides noted the progressive growth in all spheres and areas, especially in trade, economics, and investment..
      Many memorandums of understanding and cooperation were signed as a result of the negotiations.