Kazakhstan plans to boost trade with Ukraine
KYIV. Sept 15 (Interfax) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that the main goal of his official visit to Ukraine was to step up trade and business relations between the two countries.
"The main goal of my visit is to seriously increase bilateral trade to match the potential of our states," Nazarbayev said at a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Today's volume of Ukraine-Kazakhstan trade at $3.4 billion represents a 30% decline from the previous level, he said.
"This is not what we need," the Kazakh president said.
Kazakhstan is interested in cooperation with Ukraine in the metals sector and agricultural machine building, he said.
There are 247 joint ventures on Kazakh territory established together with Ukrainian companies, but it is not enough, Nazarbayev said.
Ukraine is Kazakhstan's key partner on former Soviet soil, he said.