Daily Times

In recent years, Central Asia is the global focal point for partnerships, joint ventures and collaborations in trade and commerce. Among Central Asian States (CARs), Kazakhstan draws more attention for being financial and commercial hub of Central Asia. Since independence in 1991, Kazakhstan has attracted an investment of USD 390 billion i.e. 70% of the FDI inflows to CARs.

Warm waters of Gowadar port in Pakistan provide shortest access to the landlocked Kazakhstan for marine trade with Middle East, Africa and Far East. The energy rich Kazakhstan can cater the energy needs of Pakistan. Pakistan being the 5^th largest market with a population of 240 million, can import construction and paint materials, raw materials, foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, fertilizers, coal, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, vegetable oils, etc. from Kazakhstan. While Kazakhstan can import precious stones and jewelry, textiles, chemical and pharmaceutical products, agricultural and food products, vegetables, fruits, shoes, leather goods, sports and medical goods, construction materials, etc. from Pakistan.

On July 8, 2023, an air corridor between Pakistan and Kazakhstan has been established with the inauguration of Scat Air’s bi-weekly direct flight between Almaty and Lahore on every Saturday and Wednesday. Shalamar Bagh and Panfilov Park; Minar-e-Pakistan and Kotobe Tower; Emporium Mall and Mega Center; Rang Mahal and Barakholka; Sozo Water Park and Shmebulock; Tollington Market and Zalooni Bazaar have many similarities in the cities of Lahore and Almaty, respectively, for tourist attraction. Besides, the air cargo service by the Scat Air would certainly increase trade and commerce. Scat Air authorities have plans to launch direct flights between Almaty-Karachi also.

Both Pakistan and Kazakhstan have made significant progress in bilateral economic cooperation. Current trade volume of both countries has reached USD 212 million; though it is far below the potential. Nauman Bashir Bhatti, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Kazakhstan and Yerjan Kistafin, Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Pakistan have a roadmap to achieve the milestone of USD 1 billion in bilateral trade.

Pharmaceutical products of Pakistan have a lot of scope. During the pandemic time, a huge demand of antibiotics was generated in Kazakhstan. The commercial section of Pakistan Embassy in Almaty captured this opportunity by getting one time waiver of product registration from the local government. This move enabled the import of 40 products of pharmaceuticals from Pakistan in massive volumes. A number of these medicines have now penetrated into the Kazakh market by outpacing Indian products, on price and quality.

In another initiative to unlock the logistic potential of Pakistan, the National Logistic Cell (NLC), a premier multimodal logistic organization of Pakistan, has successfully delivered commercial consignments of products like pharmaceuticals and pink salt etc. to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan via land route through Afghanistan under the Transport Internationaux International (TIR) convention. The convoy of NLC trucks entered Kazakhstan for the first time under the bilateral transport agreement between Pakistan and Kazakhstan, known as the ‘Agreement on International Motor Transportation’. The consignment was delivered by the NLC caravan in a record time of 15 days. Upon their return, these vehicles carried a reverse load of phosphorus to Pakistan. This accomplishment aligns with the government’s policy to explore untapped markets in Central Asia by enhancing regional connectivity.

The operationalization of the Quadrilateral Traffic in Transit Agreement (QTTA) signed between Pakistan, China, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan, has taken place last month with the first caravan of the logistics company «Best Trans» to Kazakhstan along the Karakoram highway that is the infrastructure of China Pakistan Economic Corridor. QTTA corridor is the shortest and most profitable route for the delivery of goods from Pakistan to Kazakhstan.

Through global and regional organizations, Pakistan and Kazakhstan have institutional relations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Economic Cooperation Organization, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia and United Nations. At these international organizations, both countries have identical stand on most of the issues that result in effective interstate interaction.

Consequent upon the efforts of Pakistani institutions and local business community, Iqbal Center is going to be set up at the Nur Mubarak University (NMU) Almaty in collaboration with the Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB). Seasoned faculty from IUB would be teaching Urdu language and literature there. Moreover, some 4500 Pakistani students are already enrolled in medical programmes at various universities in the cities of Almaty, Astana, Karaganda and Shimkin.

In bilateral trade, export product diversification has been planned. Realizing the scope of meat export to Kazakhstan, four experienced meat exporter Pakistani companies are interacting with the Ministry of Agriculture in Kazakhstan to get registered. A 25-member women delegation from Pakistan had a meeting at Almaty Women Chamber of Commerce on July 10, 2023 where the valuable experience of ladies entrepreneurship was shared. In order to explore the various trading opportunities, a delegation of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry is visiting Kazakhstan next month. ‘Mehmood Group of Industries’ involved in the processing of cotton, production of yarn, cotton thread and the processing of export quality mango, has a plan to visit Kazakhstan to discover the prospects of cooperation. Then, the ‘Al-Moiz Industries’ running sugar mills and dairy production are being attracted by the state support for the agro-industrial sector in Kazakhstan.

Under a new dimension of cooperation, Kazakh military personnel regularly visit Islamabad to seek training in courses of ‘military observers’, ‘peacekeeping operations’ and ‘combatting terrorism’. The operational, strategic and tactical military cooperation was enhanced with the Joint counter-terrorist exercises of Dostarym-2017 and Dostarym-2019. Both countries have also discussed the prospects of cooperation in the fields of combating illicit drug trafficking and trans-border organized crime.

Pakistan and Kazakhstan are on the brink of signing a Transit and Trade Agreement (TTA) that would provide a legal framework to the businesses of both countries to further enhance the trade ties. Kazakhstan mission in Pakistan has established Kazakhstan House in Lahore that is offering one-window services relating to visa, trade, tourism, culture, education and other areas. Negotiations for cooperation have been held between the management of the leading Kazakh retail chain Magnum and the Pakistani company Nimir Chemicals, which is a leader in producing household chemicals and detergents, as well as personal hygiene products. At the 11th Pakistan and Kazakhstan Inter-Governmental Commission meeting in Islamabad on Dec. 22, 2022, a number of documents were signed on trade, economic, scientific, technological, and cultural cooperation.

The growing economic cooperation between Pakistan and Kazakhstan would get further boost by policy measures like promoting joint ventures under sovereign guarantee, institutional research to explore preferred sectors, and establishing trade centers in the big cities of both countries would help increase bilateral trade.

In the end, it would be quite relevant to propose a rail corridor. Both countries can consider utilizing two existing railway links – Pakistan-Iran-Turkey (ECO Train) and Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran. Connecting these rail routes would be in line with Kazakhstan’s Economic Policy Nurly Zhol and the China Pakistan Economic Corridor project. Kazakhstan is also a member of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO). If ECO Train is linked with Kazakhstan’s Khorgos dry port, Khorgos-Gowadar axis can be developed through China’s Xinjiang province and the Karakoram Highway. This would provide landlocked Central Asia with the shortest route to access the warm waters of Pakistani ports and contribute to regional connectivity between South and Central Asia.

The author is a senior banker based in Kazakhstan with a keen interest in Central Asia studies. He can be reached at rafeeq_kz@yahoo.com.