Armenian and Kazakh Prime Ministers discussed issues of bilateral cooperation

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.