OTS Council of Foreign Ministers held meeting in Ankara
Images | gov.kz
First Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kairat Umarov attended the Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Turkic States. The CFM meeting was held on the eve of the Extraordinary Summit of the Organization of Turkic States titled "Disaster-Emergency Management and Humanitarian Assistance" with the participation of heads of OTS member and observer states, the press office of the Kazakh MFA reported.
This Summit was convened to support the Turkish people affected by the devastating earthquake that occurred in the southeast of Turkey in February 2023. In this regard, special attention was paid to the issues of promt interaction of the competent authorities of the member States of the OTS in emergency situations and rapid response to new natural disasters.
In his speech, K.Umarov stressed the importance of concluding an agreement on the establishment of a civil protection mechanism between the relevant authorities of the OTS member States, which is becoming especially relevant in the light of the increased frequency of natural and man-made disasters.
In accordance with the initiative of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, put forward at the Samarkand OTS Summit in November 2022, the head of the Kazakh delegation spoke in favor of the need to establish the institute of Permanent Representatives of the parties to the OTS as soon as possible in order to improve the effectiveness of the Organization.
During the event, issues related to the agenda of the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the OTS, as well as draft documents planned to be signed during the Summit were also discussed.
Source: kazinform
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Tokayev partook in ceremony of inauguration of Turkish President Erdogan
Images | Akorda
Kazakh leader Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took part in the ceremony of inauguration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Kazinform cites Akorda.
Kazakh Leader Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took part in the ceremony of the inauguration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Külliye Presidential Complex.
In his speech, the Turkish President expressed his gratitude to the Kazakh Head of State for his participation in the ceremony.
Over 90 delegations, including over 40 heads of state, government, and parliament, as well as international organizations, joined the ceremony.
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Kazakhstan Took Part in Meeting of Foreign Ministers in BRICS+ Format
Images | Kazakh MFA
First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kairat Umarov took part in the Meeting of Foreign Ministers in the BRICS+ format, held in Cape Town, South Africa. It was attended by the BRICS member states (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and specially invited countries - "Friends of the BRICS" (Kazakhstan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Burundi, Gabon, DRC, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia, Comoros, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay). Kazakhstan was invited to this Forum as the current Chairman of the CICA and the future chairman of the SCO, press service of the Kazakh MFA reports.
The Ministerial Forum was held under the motto "Transition from solidarity to collective action to ensure mutually accelerated growth, sustainable development and inclusive multilateralism".
In his speech, Umarov noted the importance of collective efforts to solve urgent problems of our time. He recalled the international initiatives of President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev designed to contribute to this, aimed at strengthening international security and stability, in particular, the creation of a Regional UN SDG Hub for the countries of Central Asia and Afghanistan and the International Agency for Biological Safety.
Kazakh diplomat drew the attention of the Forum participants to the synergy of the goals, objectives and principles of the BRICS, CICA and SCO, based on the principles of international law and the UN Charter. He stressed that a high level of trade and economic cooperation has been achieved between Kazakhstan and the BRICS member countries. Evidence of this is the total trade turnover of Kazakhstan with the states of this association, which in 2022 exceeded 50 billion US dollars.
In this regard Umarov noted that "The Republic of Kazakhstan is interested in joining the BRICS, which has already become an operative and effective platform for discussing topical issues of our time, acting as an example of cooperation between developing economies."
On the sidelines of the BRICS Ministerial Meeting, First Deputy Minister Umarov held talks with Naledi Pandor, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa. During the meeting, Kazakh diplomat handed the South African Minister a letter from President Tokayev addressed to Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa. The parties discussed issues of enhancing bilateral political and economic cooperation between the countries, close cooperation in multilateral formats, and also exchanged views on topical international and regional issues of mutual interest.
Also, Umarov met with the heads of other delegations participating in the ministerial meeting.
For reference: BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) is a political and economic alliance of 5 countries, founded in June 2006, within the framework of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum (originally called BRIC). In 2010, after the annexation of South Africa, the letter "S" was added. Today, BRICS is 35% of the Earth's territory, 40% of the world's population and 30% of the world's GDP.
The summits are held in the country that is the chairman of the BRICS. Each member country of the organization holds the post of chairman for one year. This year, the chairmanship of the BRICS has passed to the Republic of South Africa. The 15th Summit is scheduled to be held on 22-24 August in Johannesburg.
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Kazakhstan interested in diversifying mutual trade with EU - PM Smailov
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Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov and Vice-President of the European Commission for Interinstitutional Relations Maroš Šefčovič discussed the issues of strengthening cooperation between Kazakhstan and the EU in trade, investment, energy, transport, and logistics, Kazinform cites the press service of the head of the Kazakh government.
During the meeting, Kazakh Prime Minister Smailov stressed that Kazakhstan is interested in further deepening investment partnerships and diversification of mutual trade with the European Union, with cooperation in the field of critical raw materials becoming increasingly important.
The Kazakh PM mentioned last year a memorandum of cooperation in the field was signed with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen at the COP-27 conference. An exchange of roadmaps for the implementation of the memorandum with Valdis Dombrovskis, the Executive Vice President of the European Commission took place a few weeks ago in Almaty.
The document provides for practical measures to strengthen our partnership in the real sectors of the economy, with the implementation of green technologies as its key element. It will certainly give an additional impetus to the realization of our common goals in the sphere," said the Kazakh PM.
For his part, Maroš Šefčovič noted the readiness of the European Union to continue practical retaliation of all the agreements previously reached
My visit to the country confirms that the European Union regards Kazakhstan as a very important strategic partner. We welcome the increase in our mutual trade turnover and are proud to be one of the major investors in your country," he said.
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President Tokayev outlines priority areas of CA-EU relationship development
Images | Akorda
Kazakhstan is ready to ramp up its cooperation with the Central Asian, and European countries, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told the Central Asia – European Union Forum, Kazinform cites Akorda.
According to the Kazakh Head of State, Kazakhstan’s multifaceted cooperation with the EU has huge potential for further development. Given its geographical location, Kazakhstan could tap into all its trade and economic and transport and logistics capabilities to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation between Central Asia and the European Union.
The Kazakh President stated the priority areas, which, according to him, will be of strategic significant both for Kazakhstan and all countries of the region.
«Increased trade turnover. Over the past years, the intra-regional economic ties between the Central Asian countries entered a new quality level. Last year alone, the trade turnover of Kazakhstan and the region’s countries rose by 19%, amounting to eight billion dollars. In the foreseeable future, we aim to bring this figure to $15 billion. There is a dynamic growth in the region’s trade with the EU countries, which increased by more than 60%, reaching 49 billion dollars, last year,» said Tokayev.
He went on to add that Kazakhstan is willing to increase the amount of 175 non-primary goods the country exports by $2.3 billion in such spheres as mechanical engineering, iron and steel production, and food production.
Tokayev noted huge prospects for cooperation in agriculture, as Kazakhstan exports 5 million tons of grain and 1.5 million tons of flour to the EU.
«Last year, the food trade between Kazakhstan and the EU rose by 35% to nearly $1 billion,» said the Kazakh President, noting that by realizing the full potential in the agricultural sphere, it will be possible to strengthen significantly food security of the regions.
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Kazakhstan is an integral part of the global quality infrastructure
Images | Ministry of Trade and Integration
The visit of the group of experts of the Asia-Pacific Cooperation on accreditation - ARAS, who have been in Kazakhstan since May 27 to confirm the compliance of the activities of the National Accreditation Center of the Committee for Technical Regulation and Metrology of the Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan with international standards ISO/IEC 17011, ISO/IEC 17065, ISO/IEC 17024, ISO/IEC 17024, ISO/IEC 17021 and others, press service of the Ministry of Trade and Integration reports.
Planned assessments by the ARAS are a conducting element of the functioning of the quality system on a global scale. The ARAS Working Groups periodically monitor the activities of the accreditation bodies of the ARAS member countries (55 full-fledged participating organizations from 32 countries of the Asia-Pacific region), which, in turn, carry out the accreditation of business entities within their states. Thus, the quality management vertical is maintained in working order throughout the geographical space of the Asia-Pacific region.
The NAC, as a full member of international accreditation organizations: ARAS, ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) and IAF (International Accreditation Forum), regularly confirms its competence as the only state body in the field of conformity assessment determined by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
At the final meeting with the ARAS evaluation group, NAC Director General Talgat Momyshev, on behalf of the team, thanked the international group for their joint work, noted the objectivity, integrity and fairness with which the evaluation was conducted.
For us, the visit of the ARAS experts has become a serious exam, associated with long preparation, excitement, worry about the result. But we are grateful to ARAS and personally to each of you for a comprehensive deep assessment of our work, for your professional vision, for integrity and impartiality", - T. Momyshev stressed.
In the course of their work, international experts from Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the USA and Sri Lanka studied in detail all aspects of the NCA's activities, including the management system and monitoring the work of Kazakhstani appraisers in practice: in certification bodies, assessment of management systems, in medical, testing, calibration laboratories and enterprises.
Following the visit, international experts formed a list of recommendations for the NAC for their subsequent implementation.
The functioning of the NAC is at a very high level, you have a very strong competent team", - said Donny Purnomo Januardhi, deputy head of the group (Donny Purnomo Januardhi), - however, there is always room for changes to reach an even higher level.
Through the fulfillment of the requirements of international standards in work and compliance with them by accredited business entities, the NAC promotes ISO requirements as the basis of competitiveness, a factor of direct influence on the trade and economic potential of Kazakhstan.
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Polyethylene plant construction project discussed by Government
Images | primeminister.kz
The gas chemical industry development issues were considered at the Government meeting chaired by Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov of the Republic of Kazakhstan, primeminister.kz reports.
In particular, they discussed the project for the construction of an integrated gas chemical complex for the production of polyethylene, the final investment decision on which must be taken in 2024. As Magzum Mirzagaliyev, Chairman of the Board of NC KazMunayGas JSC, pointed out, the successful implementation of the project requires the extension of the term of the SEZ "NIPT", and the construction of the missing external infrastructure.
Following the discussion, the Prime Minister instructed the authorized bodies to work out a solution to the issues voiced. In addition, he expressed the need to provide within the legislation of Kazakhstan the possibility of applying international standards in the design and construction of large oil and gas chemical facilities that use foreign licensed technologies.
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