On July 21-23, 2021, Pierre Bontono, the representative of the International Trade Center (ITC), participated in a number of meetings with government agencies and organizations on the Ready4Trade Central Asia project.
Ready4Trade Central Asia is a 4-year ITC project designed to facilitate the development of international trade in five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan). The project is funded by the European Union.
The main partner of ITC in Kazakhstan is «QazTrade» JSC.
During the mission of ITC, meetings took place with representatives of «QazTrade» JSC, the Ministry of Trade and Integration, Committee for Technical Regulation and Metrology under the Ministry of Trade and Integration, the Committee of State Revenue under the Ministry of Finance , the Transport Committee under the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development, «Atameken» National Chamber of Entrepreneurs, «National Center for Accreditation» LLP, RSE «Kazakhstan Institute of Standardization and Metrology», Union of International Road Carriers «KazATO» and «KAZLOGISTICS» Union of Transport Workers of Kazakhstan.
During the meetings the necessary steps to further trade facilitation in Central Asia, reducing queues at borders, recognition of conformity certificates were discussed. ITC presented proposals for deepening further cooperation in these areas. Agreement on technical support from ITC were reached. The issue of raising the qualifications of Kazakhstani personnel involved in regional trade was raised separately. The parties also agreed to continue work in this direction.
It is expected that the R4TCA project will improve the transparency requirements to trade at the borders of Central Asian countries, reduce procedural barriers and develop cross-border e-commerce.