ASTANA, Kazakhstan, December 4. Kazakhstan’s trade turnover with the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) amounted to $12.5 billion from January through September 2023, said Minister of Trade and Integration Arman Shakkaliyev at the 39th meeting of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the OIC (COMCEC) in Istanbul, Trend reports.
As he noted, exports of Kazakh products amounted to more than half of total trade turnover - $8.4 billion.
"We need to unite the efforts of all participants of the Organization in developing transport and logistics infrastructure and expanding investment cooperation," Shakkaliyev said.
In addition, the minister noted that Türkiye is Kazakhstan’s largest trading partner, accounting for 35 percent of total trade turnover with OIC countries.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation is the largest official governmental Muslim international organization, uniting 57 countries. Today, OIC countries make up more than a quarter of the world's population, accounting for around 1.7 billion people, spanning four continents - Asia, Africa, Europe and South America. Over the past 3 years, total trade turnover between member states has increased from $3.7 to $4.5 trillion.
Kazakhstan’s foreign trade turnover in 2022 reached a historically high level of $134.4 billion. The trade surplus amounted to $34.3 billion, which is 82 percent better than in 2021 and four times more than in 2020.
Export volumes amounted to $84.4 billion. By 2021, foreign sales volumes had increased by 40 percent, and by 2020, they had increased by 78 percent.
Import volumes to Kazakhstan reached $50 billion for the first time, updating the 2013 record ($48.8 billion).
