ISTANBUL - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that the goal of exceeding one billion dollars in trade between Turkey and Kazakhstan in medium term could be reached.
Erdogan attended the dinner hosted by Turkish-Kazakh Business Council in the honour of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev the same day.
Addressing the dinner, Erdogan said that the bilateral trade volume between the two countries which was 392 million dollars in 1999 reached 465 million dollars in 2000, but it decreased to 210 million dollars in 2001.
''Three years is not a short period. The commercial and economic activities between the two countries started to revive as of 2002. Our bilateral trade volume increased to 357 million dollars again. But this figure does not reflect the economic potential of the two countries and it is not balanced...The long term economic cooperation agreement foreseen to be signed between the two countries during this visit of Kazakh President Nazarbayev to Turkey will have a special place in our economic and commercial relations. I hope this agreement will serve reaching our targets in economic and commercial relations as soon as possible,'' Erdogan said.
Noting that the individual and collective contributions of businessmen to development of economic relations between countries are very important, Erdogan said that the number of Turkish wing of Turkish-Kazakh Business Council founded in 1991 reached 208. ''Turkish-Kazakh Business Council should convene regularly,'' Erdogan said adding that Kazakhstan continued to be an attractive country for foreign investors. Turkish entrepreneurs closely monitored the steps taken in Kazakhstan for privatization and free market economy.
''We estimate that the direct investment of Turkish businessmen in Kazakhstan will further increase by the new measures to be taken. In addition, the contractorship services worth of 2.5 billion dollars undertaken by Turkish construction companies in Kazakhstan constitute another concrete sign of the cooperation between us,'' he said.
Pointing out that the oil pipeline project which would be named ''Aktau-Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan'' by the participation of Kazakhstan would create a new and important cooperation possibility in energy field.
''This project is the most suitable route in transportation of Caspian oil to western markets in respect of security, stability and protection of environment...We have serious problems in transportation. I believe that it will be beneficial to extend Kars-Tbilisi railroad to Kazakhstan.''
''We appreciate the progress recorded by Kazakhstan by undertaking political and economic reforms. Turkey will continue to support the efforts of Kazakhstan in these fields,'' Erdogan noted.
NAZARBAYEV:''TURKEY AND KAZAKHSTAN HAVE COMMON FUTURE''
Nazarbayev said that gathering of Turkish and Kazakh businessmen and their exchanging views was very important.
Inflation and employment rates in Kazakhstan were very high before Kazakhstan gained its independence 12 years ago, Nazarbayev said adding that big progress was recorded in Kazakhstan since then.
Giving information about economic steps taken in Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev said that big reforms were undertaken, income per capita and investments increased and Kazakh economy grew by 10 percent annually in the last four years. Kazakhstan was shown among the economies having market economy by the U.S. and EU, Nazarbayev said adding that Kazakhstan was shown the first among CIS countries in respect of market economy.
Nazarbayev said that the programme of Kazakh economy was prepared until the year 2030, adding that they would undertake 6 percent of their investment by their own sources next year. ''Kazakhstan will be a very different country within ten years, it will be a developed country,'' he said adding that they decreased the taxes and they would not tax poor income groups.
He said that the relations between Turkey and Kazakhstan improved significantly during the period of former president Suleyman Demirel.
Reminding that the construction services of Turkey in Kazakhstan reached almost 3 billion dollars, Nazarbayev said that ''now we are ready to invest in Turkey and to buy factories.'' Nazarbayev stressed that the most important issue in his country was oil, adding that Kazakh oil had to be included to Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. He stressed that the oil production of his country which was 47 million tons this year, would reach 120 million tons in 2010.
''Kazakh economy is open, it is open to investment, businessmen. We are friend of Turkey...Turkey is a leader country. If the two countries are strong, our peoples will be more prosperous. There is no political problem between Turkey and Kazakhstan. The bilateral relations should be further strengthened,'' he said. Nazarbayev added that the cooperation between the two countries in the field of education was also improving.
(ÖS) 21.05.2003