The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and International Economic Organizations Zhanar Aitzhan, made a statement during the Fifteenth Trade Policy Review of Japan, Kazinform has learned from the press service of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry, Azernews reports citing Kazinform.
In her speech, Permanent Representative Aitzhan highlighted the close economic ties between Kazakhstan and Japan. In particular, she emphasized the mutual trade turnover between our countries, which continued to demonstrate steady growth and amounted to 1.9 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2022, increasing by 70% compared to 2021.
Japan is among the top 10 largest investors in the economy of Kazakhstan, accounting for almost 8 billion U.S. dollars over the past thirty years. More than 60 enterprises with Japanese capital successfully operate in Kazakhstan, including leading companies such as Inpex, Sumitomo and Marubeni Corporations.
The Permanent Representative highly appreciated Japan’s key trade and economic reforms aimed at creating a new digital market, building an innovation ecosystem, accelerating the development of the business environment in response to global environmental challenges, etc.
The Representative of Kazakhstan also drew the attention of the WTO members to Japan’s active and constructive participation in the negotiations on Agriculture, E-commerce, Services Domestic Regulation, Investment Facilitation for Development and MSMEs.
At the same time, Permanent Representative Aitzhan provided specific recommendations for improving some trade measures applied by Japan, including issues on agricultural liberalization in order to increase competitiveness and strengthen the country’s trade regime.
In general, the heads of delegations of more than 40 WTO members spoke during the event, which indicates the importance of monitoring and reviewing trade policy within the Organization.