President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko is paying a visit to Kazakhstan in order to improve the critical state of the Ukrainian economy and make attempts to restore former economic relations, but he also has a political purpose, experts Eduard Poletaev, Julia Yakushevф and Vladimir Zharikhin said in interviews with correspondents of Vestnik Kavkaza, commenting on the beginning of Poroshenko's visit to Astana.
Recall that today is the first day of the trip, Poroshenko is holding talks with Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov, and tomorrow he is to meet with President Nursultan Nazarbayev. It is planned to sign a road map of priorities of Ukrainian-Kazakh relations in the trade-economic, energy, agriculture, transport, industrial and aerospace spheres over the next two years.
The editor-in-chief of World of Eurasia, Eduard Poletaev, named an attempt to return to the traditional markets as a key task of the visit to Kazakhstan. "Trade and economic relations between the two countries are a problem more for Ukraine, rather than for Kazakhstan. Ukrainian trade relations with the countries of the former Soviet Union have worsened during the past year or two. Ukrainian products aren’t in demand on the EU market, they are trying use their traditional markets. In this sense, Kazakhstan is a country with good economic figures, which is able to buy Ukrainian products, and possibly invest in the Ukrainian economy,’’ he explained.
According to the editor-in-chief of the magazine World of Eurasia, Poroshenko has a personal interest. ‘‘The level of sales of Ukrainian confectionery Roshen, which belongs to Poroshenko, has significantly decreased in Kazakhstan. Instead of Roshen, Kazakhstani and partially Russian producers have occupied the market. Frankly speaking, I see a direct interest of Poroshenko to sell confectionery on the Kazakhstani market in the same amount as it had been before," Poletaev said.
The Executive Director of the Political Science Center North-South, Yulia Yakusheva, also expects that Ukraine intends to find a way out of the current difficult economic situation with the help of Kazakhstan. "Now the Ukrainian economy is in crisis, and they understand that they cannot join the European Union soon. The development of trade and economic relations with the EU won’t be active. Ukraine doesn’t have resources oe opportunities, while Europe, in its turn, has no desire.’’
The Deputy Director of the Institute of the CIS, Vladimir Zharikhin, expects that the majority of the talks will be devoted to the situation in Ukraine. "I think they will discuss economic agreements. It is possible that they will discuss participation in the current situation in Ukraine in the CIS. Certainly, relations with Russia and Belarus are a priority with Kazakhstan, i.e. the countries that are part of the Eurasian Economic Union,’’ Zharihin said.
