On June 26, 2024, Almaty hosted the final meeting for the EU-funded Ready4Trade (ITC) and OECD-led Central Asia Invest projects, marking the culmination of years-long efforts to streamline trade procedures, boost investment, and solidify economic cooperation within Central Asia.The event brought together deputy heads from government agencies across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Public and private sector stakeholders, along with representatives from the European Union (EU), the International Trade Centre (ITC), and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), also participated.
The Ready4Trade project focused on fostering intraregional and international trade in Central Asia. It achieved this by enhancing transparency in cross-border requirements, eliminating regulatory and procedural hurdles, and improving cross-border e-commerce. Meanwhile, the Central Asia Invest project aimed to strengthen the region’s investment climate and competitiveness.
In May 2023, a trade information portal «Central Asia Gateway», was launched in Central Asian countries, which combines information from trade facilitation portals of all countries in the region and provides businesses with access to the necessary information.The OECD has supported reforms in areas such as private sector development, internationalization, digitalization, trade and transport connectivity, and resilience to shocks. The OECD has built on its core strengths: high-level policy dialogue to enhance EU-OECD-Central Asia economic co-operation, share best practices, and seek further reform commitment; country-level workshops to foster public-private dialogue, collect data and build capacities; and, evidence-based publications containing policy assessments and advice, private sector survey results, and country case studies of good practices. Overall, under the Policy Component of the EU Central Asia Invest Programme, the OECD has delivered: three in-person and four on-line ministerial events, over 65 workshops, and 12 analytical publications.QazTrade estimates that the implementation of the recommendations proposed by the projects and the transition to paperless trade will lead to a 30% increase in trade turnover in the medium term.Vice-Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan Janel Kushukova noted: “In recent years, significant work has been done in Central Asian countries to simplify and optimize trade procedures, reduce the time for trade operations and automate customs processes. This has allowed us to almost double the volume of trade turnover over the past five years, to $10 billion. In the medium term, Kazakhstan plans to increase trade turnover with Central Asian countries to $15 billion.” ///nCa, 28 June 2024 (photo credit – EU Delegation to Kazakhstan) Related posts:
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