State Secretary of MFA of Slovakia Martin Klus: “The only question on the agenda of our relations with Kazakhstan is how else they can be strengthened”

BRATISLAVA, July 26, 2021 – Today, Ambassador of Kazakhstan in Slovakia Roman Vassilenko met at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic with State Secretary Martin Klus who stated that “the only question on the agenda of our bilateral relations is how else they can be strengthened.”

In this context, the main topic of the meeting were prospects for the further development of mutually beneficial relations between Kazakhstan and Slovakia and the European Union, both in a bilateral and multilateral format. Reacting to the rhetorical question of State Secretary Klus, the ambassador stressed Kazakhstan “considers Slovakia as one of the promising political and economic partners in Central and Eastern Europe and the European Union generally” and is working towards the comprehensive expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation.

In this regard, the interlocutors discussed the implementation of the agreements reached during the visit of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tleuberdi to Slovakia in 2020, as well as the possibility of organizing a return visit of Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia Ivan Korčok to Kazakhstan, as well as plans for other contacts at a high level. They specifically focused on the development of trade and economic ties, opening of honorary consulates of Kazakhstan in the regions of Slovakia, cooperation in the field of official development assistance, interaction in the EU-Kazakhstan format in light of the EU Strategy for Central Asia and the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA), as well as on mutual support at the UN.

Speaking about mutual interest in expanding trade and investment cooperation, Ambassador Vassilenko and State Secretary Klus noted the importance of timely and responsible resumption of mutual trips of citizens for business and tourism purposes. In this regard, the two discussed measures taken by their governments to counter the pandemic. State Secretary Klus spoke about the anti-pandemic measures applied by Slovakia, noting that foreign citizens entering Slovakia must be vaccinated in accordance with the WHO protocols for each vaccine approved by that organization. In addition, it was noted that the issue of travel of third-country nationals to the EU countries is dealt with centrally at the pan-European level based on the epidemiological situation in those countries.

For his part, Ambassador Vassilenko informed his counterpart in detail about the state of the fight against the pandemic in Kazakhstan, the course of vaccination of citizens and the recent development by the Kazakh scientists of the QazVac vaccine. In this regard, the diplomats discussed further steps to achieve mutual recognition of vaccination certificates / passports. At the same time, it was noted that Slovakia recognizes vaccination certificates for vaccines approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) or the European Medicines Agency, hence there are no obstacles to Slovakia’s recognition of QazVac after its approval by WHO.