Kazakhstan, UK mull over boosting strategic partnership
On the first day of the visit, there was the fifth session of the two countries' Strategic Dialogue co-chaired by Roman Vassilenko and British Minister of State for Europe and the Americas Alan Duncan.
It was a productive meeting, making it possible to compare notes on the international agenda and talk over the bilateral and multilateral cooperation. The sides mentioned that it was the recent meeting between President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and British Prime Minister Theresa May on the margins of the ASEM summit in Brussels which gave a new impetus to the bilateral relations.
The leader of Kazakhstan's delegation highlighted the upward trend in the development of bilateral relations, underlining the effectiveness of such interaction bodies as the Strategic Dialogue, the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, the Business Council, etc.
The sides discussed the prospects for further strengthening the Kazakhstan-UK strategic partnership, focusing on collaboration within the UN Security Council, bilateral trade, economic, investment and cultural cooperation, including in the light of the impending withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), and the potential of trilateral investment projects in Kazakhstan with the participation of the capital of the region's major nations.
During the visit, Mr. Vassilenko held a meeting with the British MPs led by the Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Kazakhstan, Bob Stewart. The sides discussed the results of the Parliamentary Group delegation's visit to Kazakhstan in May 2018 when the delegation had several meetings with senior officials of the Majilis (the lower house of the Kazakh Parliament), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and various political parties of the country. They discussed the plans and prospects for further strengthening inter-parliamentary cooperation, including the arrangement of a return visit of Kazakhstani parliamentarians' delegation to the UK.
Meeting with representatives of British businesses and members of the British-Kazakh Society (BSO), the delegation made the interlocutors familiar with the reforms and initiatives aimed at further improving the investment climate in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan's achievements in this field were confirmed by the recent 2019 Doing Business Ranking of the World Bank Group as the country climbed eight positions in contrast to the last year and now ranks 28th among 190 countries.
Roman Vassilenko told the British businessmen about the ambitious privatization program underway in the country, the activities of the AIFC and the Astana Hub (International Hub for IT Startups), projects within China's Belt and Road Initiative, and also answered the businessmen's questions.
The meeting was attended by two dozen prominent British entrepreneurs, including Divisional Director at Orion Group Mark Donnison, Chairman of Central Asia Metals, Nick Clarke, to name but a few.
The Kazakh diplomat held a meeting with the management team of Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs. He informed the interlocutors of the political, social and economic reforms in our country, as well as Kazakhstan's key foreign policy initiatives.
Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Roman Vassilenko will also participate in the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Eurasian Council on Foreign Affairs (ECFA) that will result in the official presentation of the ECFA report with recommendations to the new EU strategy for Central Asia.