Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Kazakhstan and Israel may cooperate in oil and gas projects, Azerbaijan's Trend news agency quoted Israeli Ambassador to Astana Eliyahu Tasman as saying on Tuesday.

"Perspective gas fields with reserves amounting to more than 1 billion cubic meters have been discovered in the Mediterranean Sea off the Israeli coast. This will give an impetus to the development of new technologies which may be of interest to Kazakhstan," Tasman said.

The ambassador said that the volume of Israel's import from Kazakhstan, which mainly includes oil and grain, is approximately $1.5 billion. Israel's exports to the Central Asian state made up $126 million as of 2012.

Tasman noted that Kazakhstan and Israel have signed more than 20 contracts and agreements. The leaders of the two countries have mutual understanding and respect, and Kazakhstan was the first Central Asian country to open an embassy in Tel Aviv.

He went on to say that the lack of a direct flight is one of the main obstacles for the development of Israeli-Kazakh relations.

Tasman said that currently, one can travel from Kazakhstan to Israel through Kiev, Germany, Turkey and Austria. This takes a lot of time considering transfers and connecting time, which does not attract businessmen.

"I intend to meet with the management of the Air Astana national company to draw attention to the fact that our embassy issues about 6,000 visas to Kazakh citizens per year. This is a sufficient argument for opening a direct flight," Tasman said.

He said that 40 percent of Kazakh citizens who travel to Israel intend to be treated in Israeli hospitals or they are Kazakh doctors looking to gain experience with complicated surgeries.

"The remaining 60 percent falls to tourists who want to see something in Israel," he said.

Tasman also said a lot of Israeli surgeons come to Kazakhstan to carry out operations.

Kazakhstan and Israel are developing cooperation in the fields of agriculture, industry, trade, tourism and healthcare, innovation and technology.

Over 100 Israeli enterprises have been registered in Kazakhstan. Mainly they operate in the oil and gas, metallurgy, mining and manufacturing industry, cable production, construction, real estate, rent and services, and trade sectors. The most significant investments have been made by Lev Leviev Group, Ormat, Bateman, Superior Cables Ltd, H.T. Cable Ltd, Direct Capital, etc.

In 2012, Israel's investments in Kazakhstan amounted to more than $150 million.