Rapil Zhoshybayev, HE First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Commissioner of Expo Authorities Kazakstan and lC Goyal, chairman and managing director, India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) recently signed the ‘participation contract’ for holding India’s participation at the Expo 2017, Astana, Kazakhstan. The meeting was also attended by HE Ambassador of Kazakhstan in India, Bulat Sergazievich Sarsenbayer, delegation from Kazakhstan, officers from the department of commerce, Ministry of External Affairs and ITPO.
Goyal has been appointed as the Commissioner General for India Pavilion for the Expo, while ITPO has been appointed nodal agency by the Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Commerce, Government of India for the country level participation. In view to encourage the participation of Indian companies, the Department of Commerce, Government of India has approved subsidy of worth Rs12 crore under the MAI support.
Zhoshybayev complimented ITPO for representing India in Expo 2017 where around over 100 countries are expected to participate.
Highlighting the importance of the event for strengthening the Indo-Kazakh bilateral trade relations, he pointed out that both the countries share common understanding on different issues of global significance and the extensive efforts are being made to improve the bilateral trade which touched US$1.00 billion last year. Elaborating India’s expertise in the field of alternative and renewable energy, he said that there is a huge scope of joint collaborations to meet the need of future generation.
Speaking on the occasion, Goyal conveyed thanks for selecting ITPO for holding India’s participation Expo2017. Referring to the Paris Climate Change Conference, he appreciated the theme ‘Future Energy’ of the Expo2017, he stressed need to highlight the concerns for sustenance life especially for survival of the genext.
Sarsenbayer hoped that the national level participation of India will open new avenues of trade and investment between India and Kazakhstan.
In her welcome address, Meenakshi Singh, officer on special duty, ITPO indicated that the signing of the contract assumes a special significance for both the countries as it is a follow- up to the high level visit of Narendra Modi in Kazakhstan and his meeting with Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan in Astana. Both sides agreed to give priority to investment in manufacturing and also boost cooperation in renewable energy by jointly holding an exclusive exhibition, Expo 2017 in Astana .