​Economic co-operation between #Kazakhstan and Belgium discussed in Brussels

Earlier in August, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Belgium Aigul Kuspan met with Chief Executive Officer of the Agency for Export Promotion and Foreign Investment of the Walloon Region (AWEX) Pascale Delcomminette.

Delcomminette presented the activities of AWEX. The agency promotes and supports the exporting firms of the Walloon region of Belgium. At the same time, it pays special attention to the promotion of companies that are part of the so-called clusters of competitiveness on the foreign markets. In particular, the Government of Wallonia has identified six priority and high-performance clusters to promote the economic development of its region: biotechnology and health, agro-industry, engineering, transport and logistics, aerospace and the chemical industry.

AWEX works in close contact with national and international business circles, Belgian embassies and consulates throughout the world. The structure of the organization includes sales representatives abroad who play the main role in representing Wallonia in contacts with foreign companies, at exhibitions, fairs, etc. In Kazakhstan, the AWEX representative office is located in Almaty.

Once in two years AWEX organizes visits of delegations of Belgian businessmen to Kazakhstan. On 15-18 March, 2017, the Agency together with the Flanders Investment & Trade (Flemish Agency for Export and Investment) organized a visit of a delegation of 30 companies to Astana and Almaty. The next AWEX mission is scheduled for 2019 and will represent all three Belgian regions. During of the meeting the parties agreed to maintain close cooperation contacts, as well as to work closely in establishing contacts with business leaders who may show interest in opening up production in Kazakhstan. Delcomminette also invited the Kazakh side to visit the biotechnology sector (biopark) of Wallonia, as well as to organize the exchange of experience between Belgium and Kazakhstan within the framework of the European Union's Technical Assistance and Information Exchange (TAIEX) mechanism.