The increase in trade turnover and the strengthening of economic cooperation are a priority in the trusting relations between Kazakhstan and Latvia
In the period from May 31 to June 1, 2018, a representative delegation from Astana visited Riga under the leadership of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Roman Vasilenko.
The main item of the program of the visit of the Kazakh delegation in Riga was participation in the 7th meeting of the Kazakh-Latvian intergovernmental commission for economic, scientific and technical cooperation co-chaired by R. Vasilenko and the Minister of Transport of the Republic of Latvia, Uldis Augustus.
Actual issues, prospects and new directions of cooperation in such areas as transport and logistics, education, ICT, agriculture, construction, green technologies and tourism were discussed in details by experts from the relevant ministries and departments of the two countries.
Thus, implementing earlier agreements at the level of the heads of state – President Nursultan Nazarbayev and President Raimonds Vejonis – Kazakh and Latvian transport experts agreed to start creating a multimodal transport and logistics corridor that will help to connect the flows of goods and tourists not only in Kazakhstan and Latvia, but also and the countries of South-East Asia with Northern and Eastern Europe.
The launch of the first container train along the route “Urumqi-Altynkol-Riga-Rotterdam” in the autumn of last year was the important milestones in this direction, in April 2018 the first meeting of the working group on transport was held and a direct air link between Almaty and Riga was established by the company “Air Baltic” with a frequency of three times a week.
The Kazakh and Latvian sides paid special attention to a qualitatively new direction – partnership in the field of information and communication, nano-and so-called “Clean” technologies. These technologies and opportunities for cooperation in these fields were presented by Latvia during the International Specialized Exhibition EXPO-2017 in Astana within the framework of the visit of President R. Veionis, having won for the first time in his international exhibitions a medal for the design of the pavilion with the idea “Energy in our nature “.
In addition, the Latvian side proposed a whole range of directions for the development of projects relevant to the RoK for processing domestic, solid and food waste, development of alternative energy, and technologies for wastewater treatment. An agreement was reached to sign the Memorandum between the International Center for Green Technologies and Investment Projects and CLEANTECH Latvia on the eve of the official presentation of the International Financial Center Astana, timed to mark the 20th anniversary of the capital of Kazakhstan.
Cooperation in the field of agriculture has great potential. The information on the agricultural potential of the Republic of Kazakhstan, measures of state support (investment preferences, soft loans, subsidies, tax and customs privileges) and investment projects in the sphere of the agro-industrial complex of Kazakhstan was brought to the attention of the Latvian side.
The parties expressed mutual interest in increasing cooperation in the field of education, which has significant potential. It was announced that more than 300 students from Kazakhstan study in the educational institutions of Latvia. Over the years of independence more than 800 Kazakhstani specialists were trained at the Riga Air Navigation Institute for the needs of RSE “Kazaeronavigation”. Further impetus to cooperation in this area is called upon to make agreements on cooperation in the field of education, science and youth, an agreement was reached on the development and signing of this agreement.
The existing cooperation in the field of health tourism and the opening in 2017 of the Clinic of Phlebology and Laser Medicine, Dr. Mauriņš in Kazakhstan (Shymkent), was positive.
At the end of the day, the Protocol of the 7th meeting of the Kazakh-Latvian IPC was signed, which was defined as the “road map” for the interaction between Astana and Riga for the next two years.
On the second day of their stay in Riga, the Kazakh delegation held a number of meetings with the political leadership of the country, and also continued the dialogue with the business community.
At the beginning of the day, a presentation was held, organized by the Latvian Start-up Association of Startin.lv enterprises, during which projects of possible interaction in this area were presented. It is proposed to take representatives of the ecosystems of Kazakhstan start-ups in Latvia, including experts of the international IT start-up center in Astana, in order to familiarize with approaches in this area and discuss specific areas of cooperation.
On the same day, political consultations took place at the level of deputy foreign ministers of the two countries at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia. The Latvian side was headed by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Andrejs Pildegovičs. During the consultations that covered the whole range of bilateral relations, the parties noted the confidential dialogue between the two countries and a high level of interaction within the framework of international organizations.
Press-service of MFA of RK