Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday called for stepping up economic engagement between India and Kazakhstan in a big way.

Addressing a business roundtable attended by members of the business community from both India and Kazakhstan, the Prime Minister praised the huge strides made by Kazakhstan in economic progress over the last decade.

Noting that Kazakhstan has been blessed with vast natural resources, the Prime Minister emphasized that India has huge demand for these resources, and therefore, both countries have a great potential for partnership.

The Prime Minister called for enhanced investment from Kazakh companies in India, particularly in the areas of renewable energy, smart cities, housing, and railways.

He said Kazakhstan could benefit from partnerships with Indian companies, which will bring in modern technology, engineering skills and cost effective mechanisms. He said Kazakhstan could also benefit from India’s strength in the Information Technology sector. He said poor connectivity was the biggest barrier to deepening of economic engagement between the two countries, and called for enhanced connectivity between India and Kazakhstan.

Five agreements, including a MoU in the railway sector between a Kazakh company and SEZ Adani Ports, were inked during the India-Kazakhstan Business Forum, which was addressed by Prime Minister.

The MoUs were: MoU for cooperation in the railway sector between National Company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC and Special Economic Zone Adani Ports; MoU between Samruk Kazyna JSC and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) in the power sector; MoU between Invest India and National Export and Investment Agency 'Kaznex Invest' on bilateral investment promotion and promotion of Road Map; work plan on agricultural cooperation between the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) and KazAgro Innovation JSC; and agreement for establishment of Bilateral Business Council between FICCI and Chamber of International Commerce.