Trade and Economic Cooperation
According to the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor, the volume of trade between Kazakhstan and Austria stood at 1137 million euro in 2009, 938.5 million of which were made up of imports from Kazakhstan, and 198.5 million resulted from Austrian exports into Kazakhstan (according to Kazakh statistics, the 2009 volume of trade was $1.5 million).
The volume of trade between Kazakhstan and Austria reached at 272,5 million euro in January-May 2010 (Import from Kazakhstan - 245,5 million euro, Austrian export – 27 million euro).
As of today, Kazakhstan is Austria’s 3rd-largest economic partner among the CIS countries, after Russia and Ukraine. During 1995-2009, the volume of direct Austrian investments into Kazakhstan made up more than $3 billion.
According to the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor, over the course of 15 years, the volume of trade increased by 12 times, the level of Kazakh imports by 17 times, the level of Austrian exports into Kazakhstan by 6 times. Kazakhstan’s main exports are oil and oil products, minerals and mineral stock, metals, cotton, radioactive raw materials, textiles and textile products, base metals and base metals produce. Kazakhstan imports food products, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, tobacco, automobiles, technology, and electric appliances from Austria.
According to the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor, Austria receives 30% of its consumable oil from Kazakhstan. This explains why representatives of Austria’s political and business circles are so interested in developing a strategic energy partnership with Kazakhstan.
Over 50 Kazakh-Austrian joint ventures operate in Kazakhstan. Among them are “Zhetybai-Quest” (oil exploration and production), “Fest-Alpine-Kazakhstan” (production of black metals), “TIM LTD” (introduction of new technologies at the Irtysh Chemical and Metallurgical Works), “Halliburton Kazakhstan Oilfield” (introduction of new technologies at the Atyrau Oil Refinery).
On the Kazakh stock exchange, “Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG” (a member of the Italian “UniCredit” group) bought 98.5% of the shares of “JSC ATF Bank”. In support of this action, the Kazakh stock exchange (KASE) and the Vienna Stock Exchange (Wienert Borse AG) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation. At an interregional level, the Pavlodar province and the Austrian Federal Land Carinthia entered into a partnership; also, the city of Almaty and the Federal Land of Lower Austria signed a Memorandum of Economic Cooperation.
Among the major events which recently took place in the sphere of Kazakh-Austrian economic cooperation were the 1st Session of the Kazakh-Austrian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation that took place in May 2009, and a business forum for representatives of the two countries’ business circles. Within the framework of the previously concluded arrangements, an Austrian business delegation, led by Dr. Richard Schenz, the Vice President of Austria’s Federal Economic Chamber, visited Astana and Almaty at the end of 2009 to further develop trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.
It is expected that the signing in January 2010 of an Agreement to Promote and Protect Investments between the two countries by the Secretary of State-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kanat Saudabayev and his Austrian counterpart will further develop trade and economic relations between Kazakhstan and Austria.
In March 2010 Vienna hosted talks between E.Birtanov, the Vice Minister for Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan прошли переговоры Вице-министра здравоохранения РК Е.Биртанова, and his Austrian counterpart A.Schtoger, with the participation of representatives of the Austrian medicine company Vamed. The meeting’s participants expressed their readiness to collaborate on the realization of Kazakh projects such as the production of medical equipment, equipping hospitals and training medical staff, and creating a modern aviation transportation park.
Other important steps on the path to developing Kazakh-Austrian economic and trade relations were the visit in May 2010 to Kazakhstan of a delegation of industrial companies under the patronage of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber and Mr.V.Zorger, the president of Austria’s Union of Industrialists. During this visit, the two sides signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in the field of machine-building.
