KAZAKHSTAN INTERESTED IN ARMENIA’S ENERGY SECTOR

ARKA News Agency
Dec 11 2007
Armenia

YEREVAN, December 11. /ARKA/. Kazakhstan is interested in Armenia’s
energy sector, said Charge d’Affaires of Kazakhstan to Armenia Yerlan
Kubashev. The country focuses on the delivery of pipes for Armenia’s
gas pipeline, implementation of energy projects and Armenia’s energy
sector, according to him.

The Kazakh party is studying a number of projects and is planning
to organize a meeting in the RA Ministry of Energy. The purpose of
the meeting is to attract Kazakh investors to Armenia, the Charge
d’Affaires said.

He pointed out that Kazakhstan does not rule out the possibility of
increasing oil exports to Armenia by constructing a new petroleum
terminal in Georgia and using the purchased Romanian petroleum
terminal. "We do not rule out the possibility of exporting oil to
Armenia by means of both terminals," Kubashev said.

45,000 small Armenian enterprises with 21 joint corporations were
registered in Kazakhstan in late 2006. Their main directivities are
trade, production and sales of construction materials.

Armenian-Kazakh trade turnover totaled $191.3mln in January-October
2007 – 62.4% increase. Armenian exports to Kazakhstan totaled $6.6mln –
80.4% increase as compared to January-October 2006.

Kazakh imports to Armenia totaled $184.7mln – 61.8% increase in the
reporting period. Imports from Kazakhstan increased thrice to $4.2mln.

The share of Kazakhstan in Armenia’s foreign trade turnover was 5.5%
in January-October 2007.