Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov held talks with Prime Minister – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani as part of participation in the Third Qatar Economic Forum in Doha.

The parties discussed a wide range of bilateral cooperation issues. In particular, prospects for strengthening further cooperation in trade, agro-industrial complex, attraction of investments and civil aviation were considered.

Alikhan Smailov noted that in recent years there has been a consistent development of bilateral Kazakhstan-Qatar relations, which was facilitated by active contacts between the leaders of the two states.

"Astana intends to maintain and strengthen the high level of interaction with Doha in both bilateral and multilateral formats," the Prime Minister said.

He stressed that one of the strategic sectors for Kazakhstan's economy is the agro-industrial complex, which has a huge potential for further growth.

"Currently, a large number of Kazakh companies - producers of meat and meat products, as well as food products in general express interest in exporting their goods to the Qatari market. In this regard, I believe it is advisable to accelerate the procedures for the harmonization of halal certificates between our countries," Alikhan Smailov said.

In addition, he pointed to the growing interest of the Kazakhs and Qataris to travel in both directions. In particular, this contributed to increasing the number of direct flights of Qatar Airways in Almaty. In turn, the Kazakhstan company Fly Arystan also plans to start regular flights from Astana to Doha by the end of this year.

For his part, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani expressed his readiness to strengthen effective cooperation across the spectrum of bilateral cooperation.

#Alikhan Smailov #The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan #Export #Foreign trips #International Cooperation