ArmInfo. Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan, who is on a working visit to Almaty, received the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintayev on February 2, the RA government's press office reported.
According to the source, Karapetyan noted that due to joint work during the first 11 months of last year, the volume of trade turnover between the two countries increased by 51.2% compared to the same period in 2016. The heads of government were unanimous in their opinion on the need to continue efforts to improve these indicators and further deepen economic ties.
The Prime Minister of Armenia stressed that both states have numerous promising projects that can be implemented on joint and mutually beneficial terms. The interlocutors also touched upon the issues of cooperation in the field of information technology, agriculture, mining, and the implementation of joint programs.
Karen Karapetyan also told his colleague about the opportunities of the free economic zone recently opened in Meghri on the Armenian-Iranian border, stressing that these and other trade regimes give a good opportunity to enter other major markets through Armenia. According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, in 2017 the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to 8 million 986 thousand dollars, having increased by 59% compared to 2016. At the same time, the volume of export of Armenian products to Kazakhstan decreased by 1.2%, amounting to 4 million 915 thousand dollars, and imports from Kazakhstan increased 6-fold - up to 4 million 070 thousand dollars.