Kazakhstan – Jordan
General information
Diplomatic ties between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan were established on February 8, 1993.
Kazakhstan Embassy in Amman was opened in July 2007. Jordan Embassy in Kazakhstan was established in April, 2007.
On June 6, 2019, Aidarbek Toumatov was appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to Jordan.
Since February 11, 2019, Jordan's Ambassador to Kazakhstan is Yousef Abdelghani.
History of Interstate Relations
Thanks to the warm relationship between the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan - Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev and King of Jordan Abdullah II, Kazakh-Jordanian relations have reached a high level to date. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in February 1993, the bilateral relations have been characterized by their dynamic development and multidimensional nature, placing the Kingdom on par with the closest and reliable allies of Kazakhstan in the Middle East region.
The high level of bilateral relations is evidenced by continuous high-level contacts and deepening of political mutual trust, which have yielded positive results in trade, economic, cultural, humanitarian and other fields.
In 2006 and 2009 two official visits of the First President of Kazakhstan –Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev to Jordan were held. In turn, the King of Jordan Abdullah II visited Kazakhstan 7 times (in 2005, 2007 and 2017 with official visits, in 2008 and 2010 with private visits, in 2014 and 2015 with working visits). On June 10-11, 2015, King Abdullah II took part in the V Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. During that period a solid legal framework for cooperation was laid, which still determines the positive direction and high dynamics of Kazakh-Jordanian relations.
The King’s last official visit to the Republic of Kazakhstan took place on October 31-November 1, 2017. The main event of this visit was the awarding of the first “Nazarbayev Prize for a World Without Nuclear Weapons and International Security”. The King is the first laureate of the prize, which was granted in appreciation of his continuous efforts and endeavours to achieve regional and international security and stability.
In addition, on September 25, 2019, on the sidelines of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, held a meeting with King of Jordan Abdullah II.
Inter-Parliamentary Relations
Inter-parliamentary relations have been also actively developing. The speakers of both Chambers of the Jordanian Parliament Faisal Al-Fayez and Atef At-Tarawneh took part in the 4th Meeting of Speakers of Parliaments of the Eurasian Countries, which was held on September 23-24, 2019 in Nur Sultan city.
During the visit, the Speaker of the Senate of Jordan Faisal Al-Fayez held talks with the Chairman of the Senate of the Republic of Kazakhstan Dariga Nazarbayeva. At the same time the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Jordan Atef At-Tarawneh met with the Chairman of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nurlan Nigmatulin, as well as the Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar and the Minister of Agriculture Saparkhan Omarov.
On October 16, 2019, on the sidelines of the World Cancer Leaders Summit in Nur-Sultan the Chairman of the Senate of the Republic of Kazakhstan Dariga Nazarbayeva met with Her Royal Highness Princess Dina Mired of Jordan, President of the Union for International Cancer Control.
Activities at the heads of Governments level
On 16th of June, 2016 there was a phone conversation between the Prime-Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov and Jordan Prime-Minister Hani al-Mulki. During the conversation the two Prime-Ministers exchanged opinions about priorities of cooperation.
On September 7-8, 2016, the Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan Askar Mirzahmetov and Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply Dr. Jawad Al Anani chaired the 5th meeting of intergovernmental commission on trade, economic and cultural and humanitarian cooperation and the Business Council meeting.
The next 5th meeting of the intergovernmental commission is planned during 2020 in Amman.
Ties between Foreign Affairs Ministries
In recent years, there has been an intensification of contacts between the foreign ministries of the two countries. On March 1, 2019, in Abu Dhabi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Beibut Atamkulov in the framework of the 46th session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, met with the Foreign Minister of Jordan Ayman Safadi and discussed issues of bilateral cooperation. On April 6-7, 2019, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan paid a visit to Jordan to participate in the regional forum of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa, during which he met with the King of Jordan, the Foreign Minister, and others.
On July 6, 2017, the first political consultations between MFAs were held in Amman with participation of the Deputy Minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan A.Kamaldinov and Secretary General of the Ministry of foreign affairs and expatriates of Jordan Zeid al-Louzi. It is planned to hold the 2nd round of the political consultations in Nur-Sultan during 2020.
In addition, on December 23, 2019, the first round of Kazakh-Jordanian consultations on consular issues was held.
Active interaction at the political level has reflected in the mutual development of approaches to key international and regional problems. In this context, it is important to note the special role of Jordan in contributing to the Astana peace process on Syria, where it participates as an observer country.
Trade and economic cooperation
To date, trade and economic relations between Kazakhstan and Jordan for objective reasons do not correspond to the dynamics of bilateral political cooperation (due to logistical issues, regional conflicts, etc.). Nevertheless, despite not so high volume of trade, which currently does not exceed 40 mln. USD, in recent years there has been a positive trend towards a substantial increase. So, at the end of 2019, this indicator increased 6 times, against approx. 6,6 mln. USD at the end of 2018, where exports amounted to 5,5 mln. USD. In 2017, the trade between the two countries amounted to only 563,8 thousand US dollars.
Kazakhstan’s main exports to Jordan are energy resources, mechanical and electrical appliances, chemical and ferrous metallurgy products. The main imports from Jordan to Kazakhstan are cosmetics, agricultural products, food products and pharmaceuticals.
An important aspect in the further expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation is the establishment of direct air flights between the two countries. To date, the necessary legal framework has been formed for this, and a dialogue has been established between the aviation authorities of Kazakhstan and Jordan. Undoubtedly, the opening of direct flights within the framework of the “free sky” regime introduced in the Republic of Kazakhstan will contribute to an increase in both commodity exchange and tourist flow.
Cultural and humanitarian ties
In recent years there has been an expansion of ties in the fields of education, science and culture. In the framework of the state program “Rouhani Zhangyru” and the 25th Anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, concerts of the Rector of the Kazakh National University of Arts A.Musakhodjaeva took place in Jordanian cities on April 8-10, 2018. On June 24-25, 2019, representatives of Shakarim State University of Semipalatinsk and the Silk Way International University (Shymkent) visited Jordan and discussed with the leadership of Jordanian universities the issues of teaching Jordanian students in Kazakhstan.
On August 19-20, 2019, the Kazakhstani Film Days were successfully organized in Amman city, within which the films “Amre” and “The Road to Mother” were screened.