Kazakh-American consultations on Afghanistan held in Washington
ASTANA. May 4. KAZINFORM A representative delegation of Kazakhstan headed by Ambassador-at-large of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry Omirtai Bitimov paid official visit to Washington to hold consultations on Afghanistan, Kazinform refers to the Kazakh Embassy in the USA.
The delegation included Kazakh Ambassador to Afghanistan Agybai Smagulov, Deputy Head of the Department for Struggle Against International Terrorism and Extremism of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan Davletzhan Kuramysov, Deputy Director of the Foreign Cooperation Department of the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and New Technologies Olzhas Rayev and Advisor of the OSCE Department at the Kazakh Foreign Ministry Talgat Baimukhambetov.
The Kazakh delegation held meetings with Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke and his deputy Paul Jones, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia David Sedney and other representatives of the state agencies of the USA.
The main topics of discussions were joint realization of the educational programs for the Afghan population and human resources development, cooperation on Afghanistan reconstruction, healthcare, development of trade relations, and attraction of Kazakh investments to the Afghan economy, including the extracting industry, energy field and agriculture. The sides discussed the role of the Kazakhstan's OSCE chairmanship and use of its potential for assistance to Afghanistan in building democratic state, including effective governance and strong civil society as well.
The parties complimented the consultations and agreed to continue bilateral cooperation in ensuring stability in Afghanistan and its economic recovery.