Politics

Moscow, Astana increase trade despite global trade crisis

Moscow, Nov 28 (EFE).- Russia and Kazakhstan have managed to increase trade at a time when the world’s major economies have imposed sanctions, limitations, fees and quotas, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said Monday in Moscow.

“According to data from the World Trade Organization (WTO), the most developed countries of the world have in the last six months increased the pace of implementation of export limitations (…) In this context, Kazakh-Russian cooperation, fortunately, I would say, radically differs from global trends,” he said.

Tokayev addressed the 18th Russia-Kazakhstan Interregional Cooperation Forum at the Kremlin together with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, as part of his first official visit abroad after being recently re-elected.

The Kazakh leader said that between May and October this year the G20 countries “implemented 47 restrictive measures on goods worth over $160 billion”, a situation he called a “global trade crisis.”

“This is a steady increase in export bans, new licensing requirements, quotas and fees,” he said.

The Kazakh president added that this is a different situation from the one between Moscow and Astana, where “lifting of all limitations and creation of mutually beneficial conditions in trade is key to the qualitative economic growth of our countries.”

“Last month we celebrated the 30th anniversary of our diplomatic relations. During that time our states managed to establish a mutually beneficial strategic relationship based on strong ties of friendship and good neighborliness,” he said.

According to Tokayev, in 2021 “bilateral trade between our countries reached a new record, almost $24.5 billion,” and between January and September this year trade between Russia and Kazakhstan grew 5% compared to the previous period, despite an increase in trade limitations on the international level.

Both Putin and Tokayev highlighted the fact that Russia was the first country visited by the Kazakh leader after being re-elected as head of state of the largest country in Central Asia as a sign of the strategic nature of relations between Moscow and Astana. EFE

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