Speech of the Ambassador of Kazakhstan in Slovakia Roman Vasilenko at a meeting with businessmen

Speech of the Ambassador of Kazakhstan in Slovakia Roman Vasilenko at a meeting with businessmen

Zvolen, February 6, 2020

 

Good evening, dear friends!

I would like to cordially welcome you on behalf of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the Slovak Republic, as well as on my behalf as the first Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Slovak Republic, based in Bratislava.

Let me introduce you to modern Kazakhstan, the state and prospects of Kazakh-Slovak relations.

The Republic of Kazakhstan, which gained independence on December 16, 1991, is a dynamically developing economically strong and democratic state, contributing to the solution of international problems as a responsible member of the world community.

In June 2019, during the nationwide election of Kassym-Zhomart Tokaev, he was elected the new President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, announcing his commitment to political, social and economic reforms to achieve the goal of becoming one of the 30 most developed countries in the world by 2050. The first President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, is the chairman of the country's Security Council, the chairman of the People’s Assembly of Kazakhstan and the leader of the ruling Nur Otan party.

At the beginning of 2000, our first president set himself the national goal of becoming one of the developed countries of the world. Over this period, GDP increased 18 times, income increased nine times, and poverty fell 10 times.

According to the results of 2019, Kazakhstan took 25th place in the << Doing Business >> rating. In 2019, Kazakhstan improved its position in the global competitiveness index of the World Economic Forum and took 54th place. Kazakhstan received the highest rating according to the criteria “Labor Market” - 25th place and “Business Dynamics” - 35th place.

In 2017, Kazakhstan became the first CIS country to host the EXPO international specialized exhibition, which was attended by 115 countries, including Slovakia, a silver medal for pavilion design and 22 international organizations. The exhibition was visited by about four million people, half of whom were from other countries.

Since independence, Kazakhstan has attracted more than $ 300 billion of foreign investment. The largest investors are the Netherlands, the USA, Switzerland, France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, Belgium and Canada.

In 2018, at the initiative of the First President, the Astana International Financial Center began to operate. On its territory, English law, a serious package of tax preferences and the stock exchange are in effect. The center was created to attract investment in the country. Today, the center has registered more than 250 companies. The center has entered into cooperation agreements with the Shanghai and NASDAQ exchanges.

I would like to note the dynamic nature of the development of bilateral cooperation. In November 2018, Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic Peter Pellegrini officially visited Nur Sultan. During the visit, bilateral meetings were held with the President and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kazakh-Slovak trade forum, at which large enterprises from Kazakhstan and Slovakia were represented.

On April 8, 2019, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Miroslav Lajcak, paid an official visit to Nur Sultan.

An official visit to Kazakhstan was made on September 23, 2019 by the President of the National Council of the Slovak Republic Andrei Danko.

21-twenty-second This year, the 8th meeting of the Kazakh-Slovak intergovernmental commission on economic, scientific and technical cooperation (IPC) was held in Nur-Sultan. During the event, the parties considered the state and prospects of interaction in the fields of energy, investment, agriculture, water supply, environmental protection, education, science, health and tourism. An impressive Slovak delegation was led by State Secretary of the Ministry of Economics Vojtech Ferenc. The IGC meeting was accompanied by a business round table, which was attended by more than 100 representatives of Slovak and Kazakh companies.

Highly appreciating the level of relations between Kazakhstan and Slovakia, I would like to emphasize the need to use the potential of our friendship. We are confident that today Kazakhstan and Slovakia have a lot in common, and we look forward to a very dynamic and mutually beneficial development of these relations with Slovakia in all areas.

The Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the Slovak Republic is interested in establishing close cooperation in the implementation of joint projects and building friendly relations between our countries.

Thank you so much!