Last year, Kazakhstan said it was ready to diversify and increase its exports to Qatar to reach $250 million.
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is scheduled to visit Qatar on Tuesday for bilateral talks with Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, The Astana Times reported on Monday.
President Tokayev will stay in the Gulf country for two days to meet with top officials including Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.
The Kazakh leader will also participate in the Qatar-Kazakhstan investment round table with several Qatari businessmen, according to The Astana Times.
Qatar’s Amir visited Kazakhstan in June last year as part of a “milestone” Central Asia tour that included Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. At the time, the amir participated in the Astana International Forum.
The Investment Promotion Agency Qatar (IPA Qatar) and Kazakh Invest inked a partnership deal on 11 June 2023 on the sidelines of the forum to boost bilateral trade and investment.
Sheikh Tamim’s visit was seen as another step to develop ties between Qatar and Kazakhstan, which were established three decades ago. Notably, Qatar was among the first Arab countries to recognise Kazakhstan’s independence.
Doha’s first investments in Kazakhstan were made in 1997, when the capital was transferred from Almaty to Astana. Qatar also funded the construction of the Astana Mosque, a key landmark in Kazakhstan’s capital city.
In 2020, Qatar was one of the first countries to provide Astana with medical assistance to help health authorities there combat the Covid-19 outbreak. At the time, Doha provided medical assistance and vaccines to various countries worldwide as part of efforts to join the global fight against the pandemic.
In 2022, Qatari investments in Kazakhstan stood at an estimated almost $113 million, out of which $100 million belonged to the Qatar Investment Authority, according to the Qatar News Agency.
The remaining $13 million belonged to the Qatar Fund for Development.
Last year, Kazakhstan said it was ready to diversify and increase its exports to Qatar to reach $250 million.
Kazakhstan also shares strategic borders with countries such as China and Russia and its geographical location enables it to benefit from the fields of mining and agriculture.
In 2023, Kazakhstan was the fifth globally in the export of wheat and one of the 20 oil-producing countries, according to QNA.
Kazakhstan is among the most important economies in Central Asia, making up 80 per cent of the region’s volume of mutual trade. Its intra-regional trade had increased from $5.8 to $10 billion (73.4 per cent) between 2018 and 2022, according to The Astana Times.
