Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 30 November (BelTA) – Kazakhstan sees big prospects in cooperation with Belarus in digital technology, Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Prime Minister Askar Mamin told the media following the Belarus-Kazakhstan business forum in Minsk on 29 November, BelTA has learned.

“The development of joint projects in the digital sphere is a new line of action for us. We see that it holds big prospects. Belarus has plenty of expertise in digital technology. We plan to use it as well as the experience we have,” Askar Mamin remarked.

In general, Belarus-Kazakhstan cooperation has an enormous potential, the official underlined. “Today the heads of state noted that this potential is yet to be fulfilled. They instructed the two governments to make every effort to boost the bilateral trade up to $1 billion. This target is quite realistic. We plan to reach it in two or three years,” Askar Mamin said.

He also pointed to the prospects of industrial cooperation. There are plans to bring investment interaction to a higher level, too. “We have reached several agreements, including at today’s business forum. These are vital projects which will give a new impetus to bilateral cooperation,” the first deputy prime minister noted.

In his words, projects in agriculture will become a separate avenue of cooperation. “We all know that Belarus manufactures high-quality products and technologies. Given our proximity to large markets such as China, we plan to develop joint projects in Kazakhstan to export products to these large markets,” Askar Mamin clarified.’

He emphasized the importance of cooperation in transport. “The most important thing is that the volume of inbound container traffic doubles every year. Our task is to handle these flows. Kazakhstan has been actively cooperating with the Chinese colleagues to increase the volume of container traffic. It is important to carry out well-coordinated work in one corridor. This is where we cooperate with our Russian and Belarusian colleagues, and EU member states,” the official highlighted.