Tokayev, Slovak FM eye development of parliamentary ties
ASTANA. KAZINFORM - Senate Speaker of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev has held a meeting with Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic Miroslav Lajčák in Astana today.
The Senate Speaker lauded Bratislava's presidency in the EU, the largest trade, economic and investment partner of Kazakhstan. It is with deep appreciation that Tokayev noted that the National Council of the Slovak Republic was one of the first European Parliaments to ratify the new Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Kazakhstan and the EU.
The Kazakh MP briefed the Slovak official on the day-to-day functioning of the Kazakh Parliament and the five institutional reforms spearheaded by President Nursultan Nazarbayev and specified in the National Plan "100 specific steps".
The sides also touched upon the prospects of development of bilateral parliamentary ties and noted their importance in the context of bilateral cooperation, Kazinform has learnt from the Senate's press service.
Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev also thanked Bratislava for supporting Kazakhstan's bid to sit on the UN Security Council in 2017-2018 as a non-permanent member. "Our priorities are to secure peace and security, preventive diplomacy, settlement of conflicts and peacekeeping efforts, migration and environment. We will also work on the issues of nuclear, energy, water and food security," Tokayev stressed.