Assistant Secretary Biswal completes highly successful visit to Kazakhstan

During her first official visit in her new capacity to Kazakhstan, she met with Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov, the then Head of the Presidential Administration of Kazakhstan, now new Prime Minister Karim Massimov, Assistant to the President Yerzhan Kazykhanov, Prosecutor General Аskhat Dauylbayev, Minister of Environment and Water Resources Nurlan Kapparov and Deputy Foreign Minister Yerzhan Ashikbayev. Mr. Idrissov and Mrs. Biswal discussed the ways to implement the agreements reached at the recent meeting of President Nazarbayev and President Obama on the margin of the Nuclear Security Summit in the Hague on March 25, reviewed the current status of the strategic partnership and exchanged views on regional issues, including the crisis in Ukraine. They praised the work the Strategic Partnership Commission, which is co-chaired by Foreign Minister Idrissov and Secretary of State John Kerry. The discussions also covered the trade and investments cooperation, with the focus on US companies' participation in the Program of Industrial-Innovative development of Kazakhstan. The Foreign Minister also called on American companies to take part in the EXPO-2017, The Astana Times reports. Since 1993, $ 25 billion American investments were made into the Kazakhstan economy. More than 300 Joint Venture operate in the key sectors of Kazakhstan's economy. In 2013, the trade volume between the USA and Kazakhstan reached US$ 2,75 billion, which exceeds the 2012 trade volume by 9%. Building a knowledge economy is also closely related to innovational cooperation, which is overseen by the bilateral Science and Technology Commission. While in Astana, she spoke to students at the Eurasian National University about the U.S.-Kazakhstan strategic partnership. She told students that "Kazakhstan is already a leader in this region, and it has set ambitious goals and is making impressive efforts to demonstrate leadership on the global stage." She also said that the US and Kazakhstan share the vision "of a more connected and integrated region."