New stage of partnership between Kazakhstan and Slovakia
BRATISLAVA, October 8, 2020 – Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi held talks with the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Ivan Korchok and the Minister of Defence of Slovakia Jaroslav Nad’ as part of the 15th GLOBSEC International Forum.
The parties expressed their mutual commitment to further building and expanding the partnership at the new stage of relations, including within the framework of the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Kazakhstan and the European Union and its member states.
The foreign ministers discussed in detail strengthening of the political dialogue on the bilateral and multilateral levels within the UN and OSCE, as well as trade and economic cooperation. The parties noted the presence of a huge and not yet fully realised potential of such interaction, supporting the active work of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation (IGC), the idea of creating a business council between the two states and the exchange of business delegations. In addition, the parties outlined prospects of cooperation between development assistance agencies KazAID and SlovakAID.
During the meeting with Mr. Nad’, the parties discussed military and military-technical cooperation, the legal basis for which is provided by a relevant intergovernmental agreement. The participants discussed the exchange of experience in training Kazakhstani peacekeepers, and expanding their participation in peacekeeping operations under the auspices of the UN. The parties also invited the heads of defence establishments and companies of the two countries to participate in two specialized exhibition of weapons systems and military equipment – IDEB 2021 and KADEX 2021, which should take place next year in Bratislava and Nur-Sultan in March and June respectively.
Furthermore, Minister Tileuberdi met with the heads of large Slovak companies. During this meeting, business representatives were familiarized with the investment opportunities in Kazakhstan. Currently more than 40 enterprises with the participation of Slovak capital operate in Kazakhstan, which indicates the mutual interest of the business communities of the two countries.
Machinery manufacturing, defence industry, engineering and infrastructure development, the agro-industrial complex, pharmaceuticals, advanced digital technologies and their implementation in the process of creating Industry 4.0 were identified as promising areas of economic cooperation.
During the course of improving the legal framework and implementing the decisions of the IGC, a number of memoranda on cooperation between the relevant organizations were signed during the meeting. In particular, the parties will cooperate on a mutually beneficial basis in water management and forestry, as well as in tourism.
The visit of the Kazakh Foreign Minister to Bratislava provided the opportunity to find ways and means for the development of trade and economic cooperation and to strengthen the political dialogue, which symbolized the beginning of a new stage of partnership between the two countries.
On the sidelines of the two-day GLOBSEC Forum, Mr. Tileuberdi also held talks with Ekaterina Zaharieva, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Bulgaria, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu the Foreign Minister of Turkey and Emine Dzheppar, First Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine. Minister Tileuberdi also held a meeting with the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Ján Kubiš and discussed the initiatives of the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, which were announced at the 75th session of the UN General Assembly.
During the substantive meetings, the parties discussed pressing issues of bilateral and multilateral cooperation, joint action on combating the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthening interaction within such international organizations as the UN, OSCE, CICA, OIC and the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States.