Foreign Ministers of Kazakhstan and Belgium Hold Talks in Brussels

Within the framework of the official visit of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Brussels, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Yermek Kosherbayev held talks with Belgium’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prévot.

The parties highly evaluated the current state of Kazakh-Belgian relations and discussed opportunities for the comprehensive development of political dialogue, expansion of trade, economic and humanitarian contacts.

“Belgium is an important partner of Kazakhstan both at the bilateral level and within the framework of cooperation with the European Union. Brussels ranks among the top ten investors in Kazakhstan’s economy. Last year, bilateral trade exceeded the half-billion US dollar mark, demonstrating significant potential for further strengthening cooperation,” Minister Kosherbayev noted.

Special attention was given to development of transport and logistics infrastructure and the enhancement of the transit potential of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.

Minister Kosherbayev reaffirmed Kazakhstan’s commitment to creating favourable conditions for joint projects and the further expansion of business contacts.

During the talks, the parties noted the high potential for cooperation in the field of education and science, and for collaboration between the leading universities and research centres of the two countries. On the Belgian side, KU Leuven, Ghent University and IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre) are interested in developing partnership.

In addition, the Ministers discussed cooperation on multilateral platforms and exchanged views on current issues of the regional and global agenda.

At the conclusion of the talks, the parties confirmed their mutual interest to further strengthen the Kazakh-Belgian cooperation and implement joint initiatives in priority areas.