Kazakhstan's Ambassador to Vietnam Kanat Tumysh shared with press about Vietnam - Kazakhstan trade and economic cooperation on afternoon of April 24.
The "golden" period of the friendship
In 2022, Vietnam - Kazakhstan celebrated the 30th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations. Over more than three decades, two countries have established a partnership based on trust as well as a strong friendship and mutual understanding. "Currently, two countries are entering a golden period, deepening bilateral relationship" - Kazakhastan's Ambassador Kanat Tumysh said.
In addition, Kazakhastan Ambassador to Vietnam Kanat Tumysh highlighted achievements that two countries have achieved in recent times. Accordingly, visa exemption policy for citizens of two countries, which will take effect in 2024, has created momentum for tourism development, trade and investment cooperation. Along with that, many localities of Vietnam and Kazakhstan have also signed and established relations, promoting economic and investment cooperation.
Kazakhastan Ambassador Kanat Tumysh also pointed out outstanding results of cooperation in many fields between two countries, typically transportation and trade. In particular, Mr. Kanat Tumysh assessed that cooperation in transportation and aviation is being strongly promoted. Currently, there are flights operated by VietJetAir and Kazakhstan's Scat Airlines from Astana and Almaty, Kazakhstan to cities of Nha Trang and Phu Quoc.
At the same time, Mr. Kanat Tumysh emphasized that Vietnam is an important economic partner of Kazakhstan in Asia. In the past two years, bilateral trade turnover between Vietnam and Kazakhstan has developed very positively, reaching nearly 1 billion USD in 2024 alone.
Stating reason for achieving this impressive growth in bilateral trade turnover, Mr. Kanat Tumysh pointed out that it was thanks to increasingly good development of friendly relations between two countries; the leaders of two countries have had close dialogues and open cooperation. On other hand, Vietnam - Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) Free Trade Agreement is an additional driving force for development of bilateral trade relations.
Opening up potential markets for goods
Assessing that Vietnam - Kazakhstan trade cooperation is developing very strongly, however, Kazakhastan Ambassador Kanat Tumysh said that we should not just stop at 1 billion USD, but need to bring trade turnover to 2 - 5 billion USD in the coming time.
In particular, Mr. Kanat Tumysh commented that potential for opening up two sides' commodity markets is huge. In particular, consumers of both countries are interested in exchanging each country's strong products and commodities. "Kazakhastan market is interested in some of Vietnam's strong products such as rice (ST25), tropical fruits such as dragon fruit and mango", Mr. Kanat Tumysh informed.
Not only that, Mr. Kanat Tumysh revealed that Kazakhastan consumers have a great demand for tea and coffee, so Kazakhastan wants to import these products from Vietnam. "What is important to us is that Vietnam has affirmed its position as one of the world's leading countries in exporting rice and coffee thanks to high quality and unique characteristics of these products," according to Kazakhastan Ambassador Kanat Tumysh.
On other hand, Ambassador of Kazakhstan said that Vietnam is also a potential market for Kazakhstan to export some of its strengths such as wheat and apples. "Apple is a product that Vietnam has a large demand for, so we are ready to supply this product with the best quality and most competitive price", said Ambassador of Kazakhstan.
With potential to open market for each other's goods, Ambassador of Kazakhstan hopes that two countries will sign agreements on animal and plant quarantine, which will allow Kazakhstan to import rice, coffee, tea, and fruit from Vietnam, while exporting meat, wheat, oil crops, and other products of Kazakhstan to Vietnam.
Connecting transport, expanding logistics
In addition, Ambassador of Kazakhstan Kanat Tumysh affirmed that two sides have potential to support each other in developing fields of energy, transport, logistics and tourism. He said that Kazakhstan is looking forward to promoting cooperation in field of energy and nuclear power development with Vietnam. At the same time, he sees many prospects for cooperation in field of transportation and expanding logistics with Vietnam. According to Kazakhastan Ambassador Kanat Tumysh, railway cooperation between Vietnam and Kazakhstan will create a bridge from Southeast Asia to Kazakhstan, Caucasus, Turkey as well as Europe. Specifically, through the East-West Trans-Caspian Corridor route stretching from the Black Sea to Central Asia through the South Caucasus, it is the shortest railway route between Western China to European Union and vice versa.
With this transport corridor, Mr. Kanat Tumysh said that goods from Vietnam can be transported to Europe in just two weeks. “Vietnam can act as a gateway for Kazakhstan to cooperate with countries in Southeast Asia and Kazakhstan will be a bridge for Vietnam to cooperate with Central Asian countries, contributing to promoting trade exchange and convenient import and export of goods,” said Ambassador Kanat Tumysh.
In addition, in field of civil aviation, according to Mr. Kanat Tumysh, Kazakhstan's national airline Air Astana has launched regular flights on Astana - Phu Quoc and Almaty - Phu Quoc routes, as well as opening new routes, increasing frequency of flights between Vietnam and Kazakhstan through newly established airline VietJet Air Kazakhstan.
In addition, Vietnam and Kazakhstan still have a lot of potential to promote tourism cooperation and exploit the bilateral tourist market. "Vietnam is a tropical country with a warm climate and a long coastline, a favorite destination for international tourists, including tourists from Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan is famous for its winter tourism experience, promising to be an attractive destination for Vietnamese tourists", added Mr. Kanat Tumysh.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn