Prospects of technical cooperation with KazAID were discussed in the Commission of the African Union

Addis Ababa, November 16, 2023 – Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Ethiopia, Permanent Representative to the African Union Barlybay Sadykov held a meeting with H.E. Prof. Mohammed Belhocine, Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation of the African Union, as well as with H.E. Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy, and Sustainable Environment of the African Union.

During the conversation, the parties discussed the state and prospects of cooperation between Kazakhstan and the African Union Commission.

The sides noted the growing geopolitical weight of the united Africa as a global player, the most powerful industrialization on the continent, as well as the similarity of approaches of Kazakhstan and African countries to solving issues of peace, security and development on the African and international agendas.

The Ambassador stressed Kazakhstan's interest in organizing joint projects with the AU Commission in the field of promoting confidence-building measures in Africa, projects in the field of technical assistance to development, etc.

In particular, B.Sadykov dwelled in detail on the prospects of cooperation of the Kazakhstan Agency for International Development «KazAID» with the AU Commission in the field of education, student exchange, organization of courses to increase the potential of African countries in such priority areas as agriculture, food security, environmental protection, etc.

Commissioner for Education M.Belhocine highly appreciated the achievements of Kazakhstan in the field of education and socio-economic development, which allowed the country to go from a recipient of aid to donation in a short period of time. He stressed that today a number of African States with large resources and wealth still remain recipient countries of aid. In general, assistance in the field of education and skills are the highest priority issues for the development of Africa within the framework of the Agenda 2063. According to him, education allows to solve many social and economic issues, security problems, and bring the African continent to the three-track of sustainable development.

Commissioner for Agriculture J.L.C.Sacko welcomed the prospects of technical cooperation with the international development Agency «KazAID» in the field of agricultural sciences and food security.

Following the meetings, the parties decided to instruct their experts to hold working consultations on discussing the technical parameters of project cooperation between the AU Commission and KazAID for further development of specific projects for submission to the parties.

In general, the parties agreed to intensify work in all promising areas of cooperation.