Kazakhstan and Canada held political consultations
Nur-Sultan, March 17, 2021 - Political consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan and Canada took place in the format of a videoconference at the level of deputy heads of the two departments.
The Kazakh delegation was headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Yerzhan Ashikbayev, and the Canadian delegation was headed by Vice Foreign Minister for Europe, Arctic, Middle East, and North Africa Sandra McCardell. During the meeting, the parties exchanged views on the regional and international agenda, and also expressed the need to further intensify bilateral cooperation.
The diplomats noted the importance of the meeting between President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, held on the sidelines of the 56th Munich Security Conference in February 2020, the results of which gave a significant impetus to the political dialogue and trade and economic relations between the two countries.
In addition, the meeting discussed the results of the 4th meeting of the Kazakhstan-Canada Business Council, which took place in November 2020 online. The parties confirmed their readiness to actively study all the agreements reached during this event.
Special attention was paid to the issues of cooperation in multilateral formats, the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, the economic empowerment of women, as well as strengthening ties between the business communities of the two countries.
In turn, Zhandos Temirgali, Managing Director of KAZAKH INVEST, emphasized that bilateral relations between Kazakhstan and Canada are traditionally warm and productive.
“Kazakhstan and Canada have a lot in common, including geography and climate, multicultural society and, which is very important, the structure of the economy. Bilateral relations between Kazakhstan and Canada are traditionally warm and productive. We successfully cooperate in various areas, including such promising sectors of the economy as oil and gas, mining, agro-industrial and mechanical engineering. Over the past 15 years, direct foreign investments from Canada to Kazakhstan have exceeded USD 5 billion. To date, the KAZAKH INVEST pipeline includes 10 projects with the participation of Canadian capital for a total amount of more than 1 billion US dollars. At the same time, in November last year, within the framework of the Kazakh-Canadian Business Council, a series of online events was held to discuss issues of cooperation between Kazakhstan and Canada in the world after COVID-19. More than 700 representatives of Kazakhstani and Canadian government bodies, business circles, foreign institutions, and associations, as well as the expert community of the two countries, took part in the business council,” said Zhandos Temirgali.
To further expand the legal framework between the states, the parties considered the current status of the elaboration of an agreement on air transport between Kazakhstan and Canada. The conclusion of this document will make it possible to simplify mutual trips of citizens, which will have a positive effect on business, tourist and cultural exchange between countries.
In general, the political consultations confirmed the mutual interest of the parties in further strengthening the Kazakh-Canadian cooperation in bilateral and multilateral formats.
