World Monitor Magazine, Economy WM_April 2019 web version (2) | Page 10

DESTINATION europe
Germany and Kazakhstan.
forecast for economic cooperation
The European Union continues to be Kazakhstan’s largest trading partner, and Germany is one of
the most important partners for Kazakhstan in Europe. The German ambassador in Nur-Sultan,
his Excellency Dr Tilo Klinner, talks about the latest developments in the area of economic
cooperation between Kazakhstan and Germany and looks ahead to the next two years.
Before my transfer to Kazakhstan in August
2018 I was Director for Foreign Trade and
Investment at the German Federal Foreign
office. I therefore regard strengthening the
economic ties between our two countries
as a very important task. Germany and
Kazakhstan have many common interests
especially, but not only, in the economic
sphere, and that is why I am very pleased
that I have been appointed as Germany’s
ambassador to Kazakhstan.
Tilo Klinner,
Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary Ambassador
of the Federal Republic of
Germany to Kazakhstan
With around 5.2 billion euros last year, the
exchange of goods and services between
our two countries is at a good level. Yet
Kazakh exports of raw materials to Germany
still account for a large part of this figure.
We therefore need to broaden the basis of
our bilateral trade and make the most of
its potential. I am mainly thinking of the
agriculture and food sectors, renewable
energy, logistics and industry 4.0 as well
as the chemical sector and mechanical
engineering. In my opinion the medium-
term potential of our trade exchange is
twice as high as it is at the moment, and
that is why we should aim to increase it to
10 billion euros over the next two years.
I would like to work to strengthen
the engagement of German firms in
Kazakhstan. In general, German companies
have a strong interest in being present in
Kazakhstan. Only recently, for example, the
German firm Wilo, the global leader for
precision pumps, opened a new production
site not far from Almaty, which is intended
to service the entire Central Asian market.
8
world monitor
In Saran in the region of Karaganda, I
had an opportunity at the beginning of
the year to attend the opening of Central
Asia’s largest solar power plant by the
German investor Goldbeck Solar. Other
German companies such as BASF, Siemens
and Metro have been doing business in
Kazakhstan for a long time.
In order to attract German and European
investment to the country, however, the
framework conditions must be right as
well. Only if the companies that are already
active in the Kazakh market are successful
will it be possible to attract new investors.
We want to work on this together with our
Kazakh partners. A meeting of the German-
Kazakh intergovernmental working group
on economy and trade is scheduled to take
place on 11 April 2019. This year’s meeting
is set to have a packed agenda.
The new European-Kazakh economic
platform is scheduled to meet for the first
time in May. At this meeting, diplomatic
representatives from the European
Union and European companies will, for
the first time, have the opportunity to
articulate our concerns in direct talks
with the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan.
Overall, the investment climate has
improved in recent years. Kazakhstan
has recently undertaken major reform
efforts and, above all, achieved a notable
improvement of the investment climate
by restructuring investment promotion
and investor protection. However, and
this is something we must state quite