During a working visit to East Kazakhstan region, Akim of Almaty Erbolat Dosaev and head of the region Ermek Kosherbayev agreed to strengthen interregional cooperation in several areas.
At the meeting, it was noted that Almaty and East Kazakhstan region have strong bilateral economic relations. So, in 2023, the volume of mutual trade amounted to over 30 billion tenge. However, parties stressed that potential for mutually beneficial cooperation between the regions can be significantly expanded.
Parties discussed the possibilities of implementing projects with agricultural producers of East Kazakhstan region. Almaty consumes 1.8 million tons of products worth $4.2 billion a year, of which about 45% is imported.
In order to ensure supply to Almaty consumers of agricultural products produced in East Kazakhstan region, a short list of companies planning to offer their products to residents of the metropolis and create their own chain outlets will be compiled directly, bypassing intermediaries.
To expand the representation of East Kazakhstan food products in the metropolis markets, support tools operating in Almaty can be applied. For example, through financing for "forward purchases" and "revolving loans."
The step-by-step implementation plan will be included in the Cooperation Roadmap, which will be developed for 2024-2025.
In addition, to hold down the prices for socially significant food products, Almaty SEC and Ertis SEC will assist each other in concluding contracts for the supply of products to retail chains and food markets in Almaty.
The issues of interaction within the tourist cluster were also considered. East Kazakhstan and Almaty are famous for their tourist attractions, visiting which is planned to be offered in the form of single tour packages for foreign guests.
During the meeting, delegation of Almaty shared the experience of implementing urban projects based on the application of digital solutions, analysis and use of big data. The experience of developing the Industrial Zone and small industrial parks was also presented. As of the second quarter of this year, residents of Industrial Zone produced products worth almost 2 trillion tenge and paid taxes in the amount of about 54 billion tenge. At the same time, 37 projects of small industrial parks are being implemented in the city with the creation of over 4.4 thousand job opportunities.
Following the results, parties signed a Memorandum of mutual cooperation aimed at stimulating the production of agricultural products in East Kazakhstan region, cooperation of industrial enterprises and measures to develop cooperation between tourism operators of two regions. Akims of Almaty and East Kazakhstan region expressed confidence that this agreement will contribute to the release of bilateral cooperation to a qualitatively new level.
