Kazakh-Swiss Political Consultations Held in Bern

Bern, May 17, 2021 – Today the fifth Kazakh-Swiss political consultations with the participation of the delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan headed by the Director of the Department of Europe Timur Sultangozhin took place in the capital of Switzerland, Bern.

The Swiss side was represented by the Deputy Secretary of State, Head of the Europe, Central Asia, Council of Europe and OSCE Division in the Directorate of Political Affairs of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Confederation (MFA), Ambassador Anna Ifkovits, as well as the heads of a number of structural divisions of the Swiss Foreign office.

Swiss colleagues noted that Kazakhstan is Switzerland's most important partner in Central Asia. The head of the delegation Anna Ifkovits highly appreciated the implementation of the package of political and economic reforms initiated by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev within the framework of the concept of a “hearing state”. At the beginning of the meeting, the parties also exchanged of views on actions to combat the coronavirus and its consequences.

The parties noted the intensification of contacts between the leaderships of Kazakhstan and Switzerland due to the growing mutual interest in strengthening trade, economic and investment cooperation. The Swiss side has perceived with interests the presentation on the measures taken by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan to improve the investment climate. In this context, the activity of about forty Swiss companies in Kazakhstan was noted in a positive way.

An agreement was reached to promote in every possible way the development of intergovernmental, inter-parliamentary and business ties. Due to the decline in mutual trade because of the coronavirus pandemic, the parties confirmed their commitment to strengthening trade cooperation through the revitalization of the Kazakh-Swiss Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation. In addition, the sides discussed the possibility of launching direct flights in order to strengthen ties between the business community and citizens of the two countries.

In addition, Kazakh and Swiss diplomats considered joint actions to expand the bilateral legal framework on economic issues and facilitate business travels.

During the exchange of views on international issues, the delegations discussed interaction within the UN, OSCE and other multilateral institutions. Special attention was paid to the regional agenda, including the issues of water resources management in Central Asia, stabilization of Afghanistan, cooperation in combating drug trafficking within the framework of the Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Center (CARICC).

Ways of joint work on official development assistance were substantively discussed, in particular, between the Kazakhstan Agency for International Development “KazAID” and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation “Deza” (SDC).

Following the talks, the heads of delegations noted a high level of cooperation between the governmental and business circles of the two countries, and also agreed to continue holding political consultations on a regular basis.