Officials in Slovakia grateful to Ambassador of Kazakhstan for his contribution in development of friendship and cooperation

BRATISLAVA, February 2, 2022 – The newly appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Roman Vassilenko, who until recently served as the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Slovakia, met with State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia Ingrid Brocková in connection with his departure home.

Ms. Brocková welcomed the opening of an independent embassy of Kazakhstan in Bratislava two years ago, expressed her gratitude to the Ambassador for the rich and fruitful cooperation since that time, which made it possible to achieve high results in the development of bilateral relations, conduct effective mutual visits of the foreign ministers, sign a number of interdepartmental agreements and agreements on cooperation between universities and academic structures of the two countries. The State Secretary expressed her readiness to pay a visit to Kazakhstan in order to maintain the high dynamics of bilateral contacts within the terms agreed by the parties. The interlocutors noted the importance of high-quality holding of the upcoming inter-ministerial political and economic consultations in the capital of Kazakhstan this year.

The parties discussed preparation for the next 9th meeting of the Kazakh-Slovak intergovernmental commission on economic, scientific and technical cooperation, scheduled for March 10-11, 2022 in Bratislava, as well as priorities and prospects for further development of bilateral trade and economic cooperation. The defense industry, metallurgy, education, mechanical engineering and automotive industry, energy, information technology, pharmaceuticals and tourism were identified as the most promising areas of cooperation.

The interlocutors stressed the importance of continuing effective cooperation in the water management sector, promoting and implementing the program activities of the International Water Resources Assessment Center (IWAC), taking into account Slovakia’s experience in the implementation of regional and international projects in this area, including with the involvement of the private sector.

The deputy minister noted that Kazakhstan, which has the largest economy in Central Asia, would continue providing humanitarian and official development assistance in the region. In this regard, the parties agreed to cooperate within the framework of the project activities of the national agencies for international development KazAID and SlovakAid in accordance with the memorandum signed in October 2021 between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia.

Commenting on the tragic January events in Kazakhstan, the deputy minister outlined decisive steps taken by President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev and the government to determine a qualitatively new paradigm for the country’s development after these events, the planned reforms in accordance with the concept of the “hearing state”. He also covered the remarks of the head of state at the extraordinary 21st congress of the Nur-Otan party and spoke about the recent meeting of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Republic of Kazakhstan Elvira Azimova, human rights activists and Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Usen Suleimen with the ambassadors of a number of European countries for human rights, which was organized with the direct participation of the Ambassador-at-Large of the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs Peter Burian and during which a substantive conversation took place on the investigation of recent events in Kazakhstan and the protection of human rights.

In this regard, Roman Vassilenko expressed Kazakhstan’s interest in continuing an open and intensive dialogue with the European Union, in general, and Slovakia, in particular, on the rule of law and respect for human rights, comprehensive reforms aimed at modernizing the country. Ingrid Brocková welcomed this message, emphasizing that Slovakia is ready for such a dialogue.

At the end of the meeting, the Kazakh diplomat expressed his sincere gratitude to the Slovak side for the high appreciation of the embassy’s contribution to the development of relations. He emphasized the great potential for the development of cooperation and expressed readiness to continue to provide all possible assistance in the implementation of new joint projects between the two countries in his new position.

The interlocutors agreed to maintain contacts and continue the closest cooperation.