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A new stage of Kazakhstan-German political and trade-economic collaboration opens the first official visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Germany

Kazakhstan and Germany intend to build up a diverse partnership across the entire range of interstate relations, which may reach a qualitatively new level in the near future. Such results were achieved following the talks between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Beibut Atamkulov, and German politicians as part of his official visit to Germany.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan met with his colleague - German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, Head of the Office of the Federal President Stefan Steinlein, Chairman of the Parliamentary Friendship Group "Germany - Central Asia", Bundestag Deputy Manfred Grund, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy Thomas Bareiss.

Representatives of the German establishment expressed appreciation for the ongoing domestic political events in our country, highlighted the outstanding role of the First President - Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev in the state building of independent Kazakhstan. They welcomed the continuation of the foreign policy and the ongoing socio-economic reforms of the new President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, wishing him further success.

During the conversation, B. Atamkulov and H. Maas reached a common understanding, discussed key issues of bilateral relations and interaction in a multilateral format.

A senior German diplomat expressed readiness for joint development of strategic areas of cooperation. He thanked for supporting the 180,000th German Diaspora and popularizing the study of the German language in Kazakhstan. The interlocutors agreed on the whole to deepen cooperation in education, especially the dual one.

In addition, they noted the importance of continuing high-level contacts and organizing relevant events.

The Ministers also considered practical directions for implementing the new EU Strategy on Central Asia, in which Germany is interested to play a key role. In this context, the sides discussed the situation in Afghanistan.

Both Ministers also spoke at a joint press conference, expressing satisfaction with the ongoing development of Kazakhstan-German political contacts and economic cooperation.

In the course of negotiations with S. Steinlein, a constructive exchange of views took place on issues of political cooperation. The Minister of Foreign Affairs highlighted the initiative of the First President of Kazakhstan, Elbasy N. Nazarbayev, who proposed to the world community the idea of creating a new geopolitical reality based on three dialogues. In turn, S. Steinlein praised the initiative, stressing that Germany is also interested in establishing dialogue between the powers.

At the meeting with a member of the Bundestag M. Grund, issues of bilateral inter-parliamentary relations were raised. The Minister expressed gratitude for the continued support of the international initiatives of the leadership of our country. In this context, he noted with satisfaction the participation of the First Deputy Chairman of the Bundestag, H.-P. Friedrich, in the Fourth Meeting of Speakers of Eurasian Countries, which would be held in Nur-Sultan on September 23-24. The German Deputy spoke about his first visit to Kazakhstan in 1996 and, comparing with the current level of development of our country, he emphasized the outstanding role of N. Nazarbayev.

At the negotiations with representatives of the German economy, the sides commended the growing indicators of trade turnover, which reached USD 5.1 billion in 2018 (according to German statistics). At the same time, Kazakhstan is a Germany’s major partner in Central Asia - the total trade volume over the past year amounted to more than 85% of the total volume of foreign trade operations of Germany with the countries of the region. The sides discussed the possibility of signing the Roadmap for economic and industrial cooperation between the two countries by the end of this year, which should include new projects in the field of energy, engineering, renewable energy, chemistry, tourism, transport and agriculture.

Over the past 12 years, Kazakhstan attracted direct investment from Germany in the amount of USD8.6 billion. More than 900 joint ventures have been created, with such large investors as Siemens, WILO, KNAUF, BASF, Metro Cash & Carry, OBI, CLAAS, Linde AG.

During the visit, B. Atamkulov also intends to meet with the leadership of the Office of the German Chancellor, the Association of German Chambers of Commerce, as well as holding a round table with the captains of German business.

https://ru.invest.gov.kz/media-center/press-releases/novyy-etap-kazakhstansko-germanskogo-politicheskogo-i-torgovo-ekonomicheskogo-vzaimodeystviya-otkryv/