In October the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko will officially visit Kazakhstan. Apparently, the visit will take two days and will start on October 9th. A program of talks is being developed at the moment, but it seems the main topic of discussion between Petro Poroshenko and Nursultan Nazarbayev will be ways of overcoming negative tendencies in trade-economic cooperation between Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
Considering the current relations between Kiev and Astana, a political scientist from Kazakhstan, Eduard Poletayev, said that their level has degraded: “The trade turnover decreased by more than 30% in comparison with last year. It means exports of Ukrainian goods and services to Kazakhstan decreased. Kazakh investment in the Ukrainian economy has reduced as well. Considering this, I can say that economic relations are not a priority either for Kiev or for Astana. Ukraine and Kazakhstan have absolutely different main trading partners.”
According to the political scientist, there are prospects for improvement of the trade turnover: “There are certain spheres where cooperation can be built; but in the current conditions of economic crisis, there are few preconditions for this.”
Speaking about the prospects for Kazakh business in Ukraine, Poletayev noted: “Kazakhstan is investing in the insurance and banking business in Ukraine; but today there is no growth in these spheres. Investments are reducing, and I can see no prospects. Kazakh investors have had no problems in Ukraine yet, as they are working in rather narrow sectors of the market. But, in the future, problems could appear.”
Answering a question about the possibility of economic cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union and Ukraine, the expert expressed a view that it could be possible only in the bilateral format, as Kiev considers the activity of the integration entity very politicized.
