Strategic Partnership between Kazakhstan and France Discussed at the Foreign Ministry

NUR-SULTAN, June 28, 2019 — On June 24-28, Pascal Lorot, the Special Representative of the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France for Economic Diplomacy in Central Asia, visited Nur-Sultan.

During the visit, he was received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Beibut Atamkulov and held separate talks with Deputy Foreign Ministers Roman Vassilenko and Yermek Kosherbayev.

In 2017, Mr. Lorot led the French pavilion at EXPO 2017, winning the bronze medal as one of the best pavilions of the exhibition.

Mr. Lorot stated that he was glad to visit Kazakhstan again with a new mission. “Paris, understanding the strategic importance of Central Asia and the important role of Kazakhstan in this region, established a new post of Special Representative for Economic Diplomacy in Central Asia,” he explained.

In the context of the presidential election in Kazakhstan, the French diplomat stressed that in the congratulatory message addressed to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, French leader Emmanuel Macron highly praised the electoral process and confirmed his interest in developing a strategic partnership between the two countries, expressing hope for a meeting soon.

The sides agreed to keep working on the agenda of the high-level visit, taking into account the agreements reached during the meeting of First President —Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev with President Macron on the margins of the Asia-Europe Summit in Brussels on October 18, 2018. The leaders of the two countries outlined three priority areas of cooperation: agriculture, renewable energy and digital technology.

Nur-Sultan and Paris are actively working to organize the visit of the President of France to Kazakhstan, which will be preceded by the visit of Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, as well as Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire.

In addition, during his visit, Mr. Lorot held meetings with the leadership of the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development, Samruk-Kazyna National Wealth Fund and the Akim of Nur-Sultan. The French diplomat also visited Eurocopter Kazakhstan Engineering and the project titled “Creation of the Spacecraft Assembly and Testing Center”, jointly operated with Airbus.