Kazakhstan and Poland summed up political and economic cooperation in 2018

The Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan and Poland recently held the latest round of their regular political consultations in Warsaw. The Kazakh delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vassilenko, while the Polish delegation was led by Undersecretary Bartosz Cichocki, reports the press service of Kazakh Foreign Ministry.

The attention of Polish experts was focused on the speech of the President of Kazakhstan at the fourth meeting of the Astana Club made on 13 November, which, among other things, suggested to find new formats for dialogue between the United States, Russia, China and the European Union, as well as the initiative to hold a Eurasian security conference in Astana.

Moreover, piority was particularly given to trade, economic and investment cooperation, which demonstrated a steady upward trend. In particular, in the first three quarters of 2018, the bilateral trade grew by 67% compared to the same period last year, reaching $ 1.33 billion, with a large trade surplus for Kazakhstan. The sides noted that more than 200 enterprises which involve Polish capital operate in the Kazakh market, including such flagships as Polpharma and SelenaGroup.

In addition, important attention during the consultations was paid to relations in the field of education and culture, including the potential of the 34,000 Polish diaspora in Kazakhstan. The Polish side expressed gratitude for the organisation of the large-scale unique exhibition “The Heritage of the Great Steppe: Masterpieces of the Jewelry Art" held in the Gdańsk National Museum from October to December 2018, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Polish independence.

The final item in the programme of Mr. Vassilenko in the Polish capital was a meeting with Secretary of the Security Council of Poland Paweł Soloch. There was an enthusiastic and comprehensive discussion of the situation in Central Asia and Afghanistan, the Caspian region, as well as topical issues of the Kazakh-Polish political and economic partnership.

The results of the visit to Poland confirmed the trustful and constructive nature of the interaction between Astana and Warsaw, with a focus on further strengthening political, economic and humanitarian cooperation.

"The Qazaq Times"