France becomes Kazakhstan’s main trade partner in Europe
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
France is the country that has the highest turnover with Kazakhstan among the European Union countries, Kazakh Prime Minister Askar Mamin has said.
Mamin said that the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and France increased by over six percent year-on-year and amounted to $3.4 billion in January-September 2019.
Mamin made the remarks while receiving Movement of the Enterprises of France (MEDEF) representatives and members of the France-Kazakhstan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, led by French-Kazakh Business Council Co-Chair Yves-Louis Darricarrere who visited capital Nur-Sultan recently.
It was noted that the influx of direct French investment in the economy of Kazakhstan in January-June 2019 increased by more than 24 percent to $537 million.
During the meeting, Askar Mamin said that a large number of investment projects are under active implementation. In particular, about 230 enterprises with French capital operate in various fields in Kazakhstan, including large transnational corporations as Total, Orano, Alstom, and others.
During the years of independence, French companies invested over $16.4 billion in the Central Asian country.
“Kazakhstan and France are strategic partners. We managed to build a solid foundation of trustful cooperation. This leads to significant economic, political and cultural dividends for both parties,” Mamin stressed.
Mamin and French guests discussed strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation between the business structures of the two countries, as well as implementing joint projects in the fields of energy, modernization of water and housing and communal infrastructure, digital healthcare, biometric systems, automotive, transformer manufacturing, space satellite assembly and other issues.
First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Alikhan Smailov and several other ministers also attended the meeting.
The French delegation included representatives of Total, Orano, Alstom, Airbus, Vicat, Air Liquide, Idemia, Renault CIS & LADA Export, Veolia, Bouygues Travaux Publics, Catering International Services, DV Conseil, Lazard, Sanofi, TechnipFMC, TECOFI S.A.S.
The Movement of the Enterprises of France is the largest organization of the country's business community, uniting 800,000 companies of various profiles.
Energy is the foundation of the economic relationship between France with Kazakhstan. There is also substantial cooperation in the space sector, both at industrial level and for the transit of French astronauts via Kazakhstan.
---
Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz