The Ministry of Trade is summing up the provisional results of the QazTrade Accelerator program.
During the online meeting, business representatives, project organizers and consultants discussed the status of the project and the events held to promote Kazakhstans companies to the Chinese market. The event was attended by 35 food manufacturers (participants of the “QazTrade Accelerator” program), representatives of JSC QazTrade” Asel Yegemberdieva and Shyngys Torez, Ayaulym Bolatgyzy (PwC Kazakhstan) and Oksana Kulakova (PwC Russia).
Based on the results of the work carried out by the accelerator team, from November 5 to December 9, 2020, 160 B2B online meetings were held between Kazakhstans and Chinese companies. More than 200 Chinese companies have expressed interest in cooperating with Kazakh food companies, with half of which held B2B online meetings via VooV and WeChat video links. All meetings were organized and conducted by representatives of the accelerator team from QazTrade JSC and PwC.
In the near future, it is expected to sign 18 memorandums of cooperation totaling $ 117 million. Negotiations are ongoing on the terms of potential cooperation with 139 counterparties in the PRC.
During the meeting, the participating companies were able to ask questions of interest, give feedback on the implementation of the export acceleration program, and also discuss the problems faced by Kazakhstans producers within the program.
In general, companies showed high satisfaction with the new support measure in the form of an acceleration program
According to the participating companies, the program would have been particularly successful in the context of open borders. So, the most acute problem at the moment for all exporters is the issue of closed borders with China. Due to the difficult epidemiological situation in both countries and quarantine measures, there is a congestion of vehicles on the Kazakh-Chinese border and the reception of freight trains and trucks has been reduced. For this reason, the sending of product samples for tasting and testing by Chinese partners is delayed indefinitely, which affects the outcome of the negotiations, and is a significant barrier to further increasing export volumes to China.
The export acceleration program of the Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan – “QazTrade Accelerator” is the first for Kazakhstan. It was launched in 2020 at the initiative of the MTI RK and JSC “CTPD” QazTrade” as a pilot project. For 6 months of participation in the program, Kazakhstani producers received individual consultations, training webinars and trainings to increase export potential from international experts. Companies received support in the form of direct TV and direct marketing to the target market, and also participated online in the Shanghai International Import Expo (CIIE 2020) in November this year.
For 5 years, it is planned to annually conduct an acceleration program for companies from other industries in Kazakhstan to move to new sales markets.