MFA: Kazakhstan celebrates 25th anniversary of diplomatic ties with Slovak Republic
During the quarter of a century of friendship and partnership two countries established a trustful political dialogue, created favorable conditions for the development of trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation, broadened the base of bilateral agreements, Kazinform has learnt from the Kazakh MFA's press service.
The first official visit of the President of the Slovak RepublicHis Excellency Rudolf Schuster to Kazakhstan in November 2001, which resulted in signing of the Declaration on Fundamentals of Relations, has served as an important stage in the process of the development of bilateral cooperation.
Further significant impetus to the strengthening of cooperation was given by the official visit of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan His Excellency Nursultan Nazarbayev to Slovakia inNovember 2007 and the official visit of thePresident of the Slovak Republic His Excellency Ivan Gasparovic to Kazakhstan in March 2010, and theworking visit of the Slovak leader Ivan Gasparovic to Kazakhstan in December 2010 to participate in the OSCE summit.
The parliamentary diplomacy has always greatly contributed to the strengthening of the Kazakh-Slovak relations. The highest legislative bodies of two countries have established Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Groups. There is a regular exchange of visits between the members of two parliaments. The Parliament of Slovakia was one of the first legislative bodies in the European Union to ratify the Agreement between Kazakhstan and EU on Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation.
The official visit of the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic His ExcellencyMiroslav Lajčák to Kazakhstan in November 2016 has contributed a lot to further strengthening of the political dialogue. Regular meetings ofthe Foreign Ministers within various international events as well as Ministerial consultations of two countries serve as an effective mechanism to secure steady cooperation.
Trade and economic relations have been developing consistently and progressively. Two sides have defined energy, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, agriculture, pharmacy, transport infrastructure development, education and tourism as priority spheres of economic cooperation. Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, which already held 6 meetings, have been playing an important role in promoting interaction between business circles of two countries.
Kazakhstan and Slovakia share close positions on key international issues,enjoy constructive cooperation in the international arenato contribute to peace and global security in the UN, OSCE and other international organizations.
Slovakia supports Kazakhstan on EU visa regime liberalization for citizens of Kazakhstan. Since January 1, 2017 all Slovak citizens have been granted non-visa regime for 30 days visit to Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan and Slovakia are determined to further pursue foreign policy aimed at comprehensive strengthening of bilateral relations for the sake of the peoples of two countries.