Romanian observersnote high transparency of presidential election in Kazakhstan

NUR-SULTAN, June 10, 2019 — At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Minister Beibut Atamkulov met with members of the Romanian Parliament Valeri-Andrei Steriu and Cristian-George Sefer, who arrived in Kazakhstan to observe the presidential election.

Having visited a number of polling stations, the Romanian MPs were very impressed with the transparency and openness of the election, as well as the proactive attitude and patriotism of voters. The group of Romanian observers includes six MPs and two representatives each of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NGOs. “For your country, this is a very important milestone, and the election is organized at the highest level,” Mr Steriu said.

The parliamentarians congratulated President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on his electoral victory and stressed that Romania and the international community had much to learn from Kazakhstan. “We will also soon elect a president and we believe that we should learn a lot from you in this regard,” the MPs added.

Having thanked Kazakhstan for inviting the Romanian MPs as observers, Mr Steriu noted the dynamic bilateral relations between the parliaments of Kazakhstan and Romania.

Moreover, the Romanian side declared its intention to expand economic relations between the countries, in particular, to explore the possibility of military and technical cooperation.

The Foreign Minister stressed the importance of increasing trade and economic cooperation, especially in agriculture, energy and tourism. The sides agreed to discuss specific projects in these sectors. Having invested in the Romanian company Rompetrol, Kazakhstan has proved to be an important partner for Romania. In 2018, trade reached $1.7 billion, with 44 companies with Romanian capital operating in Kazakhstan.

Special attention was paid to the presidency of Romania in the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2019, and its assistance in promoting Kazakhstan’sEuropean priorities regarding the new EU Strategy for Central Asia.

The Romanian diaspora in Kazakhstan and their importance in strengthening the friendship between the two nations were also discussed at the meeting. The Foreign Minister noted that there were around 20,000 Kazakh Romanians among the 130 ethnic groups living in Kazakhstan. Mr Atamkulov also called for an increase in the number of Kazakh students enrolled in Romanian universities.

Following the meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan thanked the Romanian MPs for observing the presidential election.