Penza, 31 October 2012. PenzaNews. The opening ceremony of the trade and economic mission of representatives of companies from the North-Kazakhstan area of Kazakhstan Republic took place in Penza on Wednesday, October 31. The event was attended by the Chairman of the Penza Region Chamber of Commerce Vladimir Podobed, the Head of the regional department of industry, energy and transport Yury Bykov, the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce in the North Kazakhstan area Neli Kukushkina, who headed the delegation.

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Addressing the delegates, Vladimir Podobed noted that the Government of the Penza region has always paid special attention to cooperation with Kazakhstan and intends to continue developing it in different directions.

According to Yury Bykov, the population of the Penza region exceeds by 2,5 times the population of the North-Kazakhstan area, but the latter has over 25 thousand enterprises operating in small and medium enterprise sphere, the growth in which made 30% by the results of the past year.

Yury Bykov added that the foreign trade of the North-Kazakhstan area, excluding Russia and Belarus in 2011 amounted to 78,8 million dollars, while the corresponding indices of the Penza region leave much to be desired.

In turn, Neli Kukushkina noted that in Kazakhstan the small and medium enterprises have a lot more opportunities for dynamic development than in Russia, as the country created more comfortable environment.

“Even the number of permits that the entrepreneur must provide before opening their business in Kazakhstan is about three times lower than in Russia,” she emphasized.

As a part of the trade and economic mission, they planned business meetings of Penza enterprise managers with the representatives of organizations from Petropavlovsk, the North Kazakhstan area.