Turkmenbashi:President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has called for the development of a joint action plan to increase intraregional trade to at least $20 billion. He made this proposal during his speech at the 8th Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Central Asian countries.

According to Azeri-Press news agency, Tokayev emphasized that trade and economic cooperation in the region is gaining new dimensions each year. The number of joint ventures is rising, and business connections are strengthening, leading to the implementation of significant projects in various sectors such as industry, mechanical engineering, energy, and agriculture. He noted that trade barriers are being eliminated, border checkpoints are opening, and transport connections by road and railway are expanding.

Despite these developments, Tokayev pointed out that the potential of the domestic market remains underutilized. He highlighted that last year's intraregional trade volume was about $13 billion, representing approximately 8% of the total trade turnover of the involved countries.

The Kazakh President proposed that governments collaborate to increase intraregional trade to at least $20 billion and work towards gradually enhancing the share of mutual trade. He also mentioned the significant potential of trade and logistics complexes and industrial cooperation centers being established in border areas, suggesting that these could form interconnected regional value chains in the future.