30 years of fruitful cooperation between Kazakhstan and Latvia
Astana, December 13, 2022 - December 10, 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Republic of Latvia.
On the occasion of this significant date, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Roman Vasilenko, and the Ambassador of Latvia to Kazakhstan, Irina Mangule, held a solemn ceremony of exchanging congratulatory messages on behalf of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs.
As Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tleuberdi noted in his message, "over three decades, relations between our states have expanded and strengthened in all areas, mutual support is being provided in the international arena and in various international organizations."
In turn, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Edgars Rinkevics, stated that “more than 30 years ago, our countries chose their own free and independent path and formed a policy aimed at ensuring freedom, peace and prosperity for our peoples. We could choose partners and cooperation formats that best suited our national interests. We preferred international law and rule-based cooperation, good neighborly and regional relations, peace, security and growth. In Latvian-Kazakh relations, this choice was the result of 30 years of fruitful bilateral exchange and cooperation in various areas of mutual interest.”
Relations are characterized by regular exchanges of delegations.
An inter-parliamentary group of friendship and cooperation functions in the Mazhilis of the Parliament of Kazakhstan and the Saeimas of Latvia.
The high level of political relations between Kazakhstan and Latvia created favorable conditions for realizing the potential in the trade and economic sphere. The developed transport and logistics infrastructure allows transporting goods by the shortest routes between Europe and Asia.
More than 100 Latvian companies operate in Kazakhstan, while more than 100 Kazakh companies are represented in Latvia. Active cooperation is carried out in the field of international road transport.
For 9 months of 2022, the trade turnover between the countries amounted to 135.6 million US dollars, an increase of 237% compared to the same period last year. Investments from Latvia to Kazakhstan in 2008-2021 amounted to USD 107 million. For two quarters of 2022, the gross inflow of FDI in the Republic of Kazakhstan amounted to 22.7 million US dollars.
An effective mechanism for strengthening and developing interaction between the two countries is the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation. As co-chairman of the IGC from the Kazakh side, R. Vasilenko confirmed his intention to contribute in every possible way to the expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas. It was noted that there are real prospects for cooperation in such areas as investment, transport and logistics, IT, agriculture, tourism, healthcare and education.
Over 30 years of effective cooperation, Kazakh-Latvian relations have become an example of successful and mutually beneficial cooperation for the benefit of the citizens of the two countries.
MFA.KZ