Azernews.Az

Kazakhstan and Great Britain agreed on establishing joint intergovernmental commission, the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and New Technologies reported.

This decision was made at the meeting of Kazakh-British trade and industry council in Astana, during which, the parties stressed that intergovernmental commission will be an effective tool for the development of bilateral cooperation and agreed to sign an agreement on its establishment in the near future.

The sides agreed that two working groups for cooperation in the energy sector, as well as in education and innovation will be set up.

The meeting was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and New Technologies Asset Issekeshev and co-chair of the Board David Wootton.

The meeting also discussed issues of trade and economic cooperation, prospects of cooperation in the sphere of investment projects, finance, subsoil, training of technical specialties, the environment, the implementation of the Declaration of Aktau on the development of local content, the EXPO 2017 and establishment of the Geological Research.

Currently, more than 600 British companies working in the oil and gas, mining, energy, transport and banking sectors, successfully operate in Kazakhstan.

Sustainable growth is also demonstrated by bilateral trade, which has increased over the past six months by 23.1 percent to $1.3411 billion. Kazakhstan's exports to the UK amounted to $1.0173 billion, which is 35.1 percent more than the same period in 2012 ($752.5 million). Imports from the United Kingdom amounted to $323.8 million, which is 3.8 percent less than the same period in 2012 ($336.7 million).

The UK is one of the three major investors of Kazakhstan.