31st Berlin Eurasian Club Meeting held in Brussels

31st Berlin Eurasian Club Meeting held in Brussels

BRUSSELS, 10 May 2021 – The Embassy of Kazakhstan to Germany has hosted the regular 31stmeeting of the Berlin Eurasian Club (BEC) in the Belgian capital with the participation of the Deputy Prime-Minister – Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tleuberdi. The agenda of the event, held in a hybrid format with the support of the German Eastern Business Association (GEBA), the Investment Committee of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry and the “Kazakh Invest” national company, focused on issues concerning cooperation and attraction of investments to the spheres of agriculture, tourism, and development of Kazakhstan’s export potential.

The meeting was attended by more that 100 representatives of the Kazakh, German and Belgian political and business circles, including Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Germany Dauren Karipov, EU bodies, sectoral and regional business associations, as well as the heads of leading European companies such as SAP SE, BayWa AG, CLAAS, AGRO Global GmbH, Deutsche Bank, GOLDBECK Solar GmbH, DB Engineering & Consulting GmbH, John Deere Walldorf GmbH & Co. KG

Welcoming remarks were delivered by the EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski and the European External Action Service’s Managing Director for Russia, Central Asia, Eastern Partnership, Regional Cooperation and the OSCE Michael Siebert. Statements on behalf of the European side were also made by the Parliamentary State Secretary of the German Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture Uwe Feiler, former European Commissioner and Head of the Centre for European Policy Günther Oettinger, Member of the Board of the German Chambers of Commerce Abroad, Director for Foreign Policy Dr. Volker Treier, as well as “CLAAS Group” Board Member Christian Radons. Thematic presentations from the Kazakh delegation were delivered by the Chair of the Economic Reform Committee of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of Kazakhstan Albert Rau, the Vice Minister for Sport and Tourism Gabidulla Abdrakhimov, and Deputy Governor of the Pavlodar region Saken Shayakhmetov.

In his opening remarks, Minister Tleuberdi drew participants’ attention to initiatives advanced by the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to create sustainable economic growth and provide social support for the population during the pandemic. In this context, he underscored that the development of the agricultural and tourist sectors is a priority target for foreign investment attraction in the Kazakh economy. Special mention was given to the progressive implementation of the Kazakhstan-EU Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA), which entered into force in March 2020. “The entry into force of this document exactly one year ago marks a significant historical milestone for both sides in mutual cooperation, and will give a new impetus to the comprehensive dialogue of Kazakhstan with the EU and the EU member states both in a bilateral format and at the regional and global levels."

Michael Siebert remarked about the positive development of dialogue vis-à-vis Kazakhstan and the EU. He noted the importance of the BEC as a dialogue platform for discussing Kazakh-German cooperation and underscored our country’s role an important trade and economic partner in the region for Germany. 

For his part, Uwe Feiler spoke of the successful measures taken by Germany to combat the pandemic’s negative effects on the economy. The German politician noted the urgent need to introduce environmental standards in the agro-industrial complex, and to increase demand for organic and regional products. He noted the high potential and investment attractiveness of Kazakhstan’sagricultural sector and expressed his readiness to facilitate the exchange of experience and information, training of Kazakh agrarians in Germany and cooperation within the framework of the “Kazakh-German Agrarian-Political Dialogue” “We offer training programs, organization of expert seminars and technical information that speaks about the transfer of the latest know-how in the agricultural sector”, Feiler said.

The subsequent panel discussion yielded a productive exchange of views on approaches to solvingcurrent problems in attracting investments in the agro-industrial complex, developing tourism infrastructure and export potential. An agreement was reached to continue coordinating joint actions to minimize the negative consequences of the pandemic on economic relations between Kazakhstan and the EU countries.

The Berlin Eurasian Club (BEC) was established in 2012 at the initiative of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and the former Vice-Chancellor, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany Hans-Dietrich Genscher. The BEC acts as an informal dialogue platform that is open for the participation of representatives of government agencies, business, experts and practitioners from Germany and other European countries to discuss topical issues of interaction in various spheres of the economy.