Kazakhstan can become the main trade and economic partner of the UAE in Central Asia, following the main perspectives and potential of investment and economic cooperation between the countries, said a senior Kazakhstani official.

Ilya Urazakov, head of the Representative Office of the State Investmentand Promotion Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan, was speaking at the "Kazakh Invest" meeting with representatives of the UAE media.

Urazakov said: “Historically, our countries have very warm and strategic relations. But turnover and investment cooperation could be much higher. According to experts from both countries, the potential for economic cooperation can at least triple.”

According to data for 2017, commodity turnover between the countries approached the level of $680 million, and the volume of investments in Kazakhstani projects for all this time amounted to about $4 billion, while the total amount of foreign investment in the country over the past 10 years reached $270 billion, which is 63 per cent of all investments in Central Asia, it said.

Kazakhstan today actively invites the business of the Middle East to cooperate in various fields of the economy, it added.

As part of the presentation of Kazakhstan's Investment Strategy for 2018-2022, Urazakov noted that the most promising sectors for cooperation with the Emirates business are agriculture, mining, petrochemicals and tourism projects.

A total of 220 million hectares of agricultural land in the middle of Eurasia, exemption from taxes and full governmental support, is what the Kazakhstan is offering for partners from the UAE today, as part of the investment cooperation programme.

Urazakov continued: “Today there is no doubt that cooperation between our countries will be extremely successful. Our countries are interested in each other. The UAE has the latest technology, excellent management and international expertise. Kazakhstan is ready to offer in addition to the richest resource base, conditions for quality processing, full state support and, of course, access to new markets."

This country of Central Asia opens access to a new, actively developing market of 500 million people, and these are the countries of Central Asia, the territory of Western China, Russia and the Caspian states, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service