Kazakh FM’s first official visit to Germany opens new stage of political, trade-economic interaction

BERLIN. KAZINFORM Kazakhstan and Germany aim to build a multifaceted partnership across a wide range of bilateral relations, which may soon reach a new level of progress. These announcements were made following the talks between Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Beibut Atamkulov, and German politicians during the Foreign Minister’s official visit to Germany, Kazinform learnt from the MFA press service.

TheForeign Minister met with his counterpart –Federal Minister for Foreign AffairsHeiko Maas, along with the Head of the Office of the Federal President StefanSteinlein, the Chairman of the «Germany - Central Asia» ParliamentaryFriendship Group, the Bundestag Deputy, Manfred Grund, and the Parliamentary StateSecretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy ThomasBareiß.

Representativesof the German establishment commended the domestic political developments inKazakhstan, emphasizing the outstanding role of the First President - ElbasyNursultan Nazarbayev, in building of an independent Kazakhstan. They welcomedthe continuation of the foreign policy and the ongoing socio-economic reformsof new President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, wishing him further success.

Duringthe conversation, Atamkulov and Maas discussed the key issues of bilateralrelations and multilateral interaction.

TheGerman diplomat expressed readiness for joint developments of strategic areasof cooperation. He thanked Atamkulov for the support of more than 180,000German diaspora in Kazakhstan and the popularization of German language.Overall, the parties agreed on deepening the cooperation in the field ofeducation, particularly the dual system.

Inaddition, the importance of continuing interaction at the highest level and theorganization of relevant events was noted.

Thetwo ministers also considered practical directions for implementing the new EUStrategy on Central Asia, in which Germany is willing to play a key role.Within this context, the parties discussed the situation in Afghanistan.

Bothministers also spoke at a joint press conference, expressing satisfaction withthe ongoing development of Kazakh-German political interactions and economiccooperation.

Duringthe negotiations with Steinlein, a constructive exchange of views took place onissues of political cooperation. The Foreign Minister voiced the initiative ofthe First President of Kazakhstan, who proposed to the world community the ideaof creating a new geopolitical reality based on three dialogues. Steinleinpraised the initiative, stressing that Germany is also interested inestablishing dialogue between world powers.

At ameeting with a member of the Bundestag, Manfred Grund, the Foreign Ministerdiscussed the issues of bilateral inter-parliamentary relations. Mr. Atamkulovexpressed gratitude for the continued support for the international initiativesof Kazakhstan. Within this context, he recalled the participation of theVice-President of the German Bundestag, Dr. Hans-Peter Friedrich, in theupcoming Fourth Meeting of Eurasian Speakers, which will be held in Nur-Sultanon September 23-24. The German deputy spoke about his first visit to Kazakhstanin 1996 and, comparing with the current level of development of our country,emphasized the outstanding role of First President Nazarbayev.

Innegotiations with representatives of German economy, the parties positivelyassessed the growth in trade turnover, which reached $5.1 billion in 2018(according to German statistics). Kazakhstan is Germany’s main partner inCentral Asia, the total trade volume over the past year was more than 85% ofthe total volume of German foreign trade operations with the countries of theregion. The parties discussed the possibility of signing, in 2019, a road mapfor economic and industrial cooperation between the two countries, which shouldinclude new projects in the fields of energy, engineering, renewable energy,chemistry, tourism, transport and agriculture.

Overthe past twelve years, Kazakhstan attracted direct investment from Germanyamounting to $8.6 billion. More than 900 joint ventures have been created, withsuch notableinvestors as Siemens, WILO, KNAUF, BASF, Metro Cash & Carry,OBI, CLAAS, Linde AG.

Duringhis visit, Foreign Minister Atamkulov plans to meet with the leadership of theoffice of the German Chancellor, the Association of German Chambers ofCommerce, as well as to hold a round table with captains of German business.