Olzhas Bektenov in Minsk discusses provision of population with high-quality and safe food products with Heads of Governments of EAEU countries

Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov arrived in Minsk to participate in a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, Phoenix 24 news agency reports.

Upon arrival, met with Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Roman Golovchenko on the implementation of agreements reached at the level of heads of state. The sides discussed the strengthening of cooperation in trade and economic, industrial, agro-industrial sectors, digitalisation, as well as cultural and humanitarian interaction. Bilateral trade turnover last year totalled $912 million. Measures to diversify trade flows and expand the range of goods supplied were considered. Kazakhstan is ready to increase exports of 105 commodity items worth about $265 million.

An important area of bilateral cooperation are joint projects in the field of agricultural machinery. To date, 11 projects have been implemented for the assembly of tractors, combines and other equipment totalling more than $200 million with the creation of 1.6 thousand jobs. The parties confirmed their intention to continue multifaceted work to ensure dynamic development of the Kazakhstan-Belarus partnership.

Olzhas Bektenov visited the Belagro-2024 International Exhibition and spoke at the Food Security of the Eurasian Economic Union plenary session. The session was also attended by the heads of government of Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia, as well as the Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

As noted by the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, providing the population with quality and safe food remains a paramount task. Kazakhstan, being the main producer of grain and flour in Central Asia, uses its agricultural potential to ensure global food stability. Kazakhstan is one of the world’s top 25 food exporters. Domestic agricultural products are supplied to 80 countries, including Central Asian and EAEU countries. Its exports have doubled over the past 5 years, reaching $5.4bn.

“One of the strategic priorities of our country’s development is the agro-industrial complex. Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has set a goal before the Government of Kazakhstan to bring the agricultural sector to the level of deep processing, fully covering domestic demand and continuing to increase exports. Our country aims to double agricultural exports by 2026. At the same time, the structure of our exports is actively changing and deep-processed products are being favoured. We are interested in opening joint processing facilities with localisation in Kazakhstan,” Olzhas Bektenov said.

Prime Minister of Kazakhstan emphasised the potential of the EAEU member countries to meet the food needs of about 600 million people. For this purpose it is necessary to synchronise approaches to food supplies at national levels and taking into account the needs and interests of all member states of the Union.

“Establishing close cooperative ties to produce competitive, environmentally friendly and export-oriented products that meet advanced international standards should be one of our priority tasks. The prospects are expanded by the development of new directions of logistics through Central Asia and increasing the capacity of existing routes to China,” Head of the Government stressed.

Olzhas Bektenov voiced the measures necessary to address the problem of loss of agricultural products due to logistics and storage, as well as to strengthen the sustainability of agro-food systems, taking into account expert estimates of global warming and seasonal risks such as flooding and drought. In addition, the issue of development of modern agrarian science and active introduction of innovations in agro-industrial complex was emphasised.

The Belagro-2024 exhibition also saw the national exposition of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Domestic agricultural machinery, including combines, tractors, sprinkling equipment, as well as products of deep processing of agro-industrial complex were presented. In addition, scientific achievements of Kazakhstan’s agrarian research institutes were demonstrated, for example, a drone used for field cultivation, patents for breeding achievements, including 4 varieties of apples.