Kazakh FM met with Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal

The diplomats discussed outcomes of the negotiations between President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and the United States President Barack Obama held at the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague on March 24-25, 2014. The counterparts also reflected on the state and prospects of political and economic cooperation development between Kazakhstan and the US. The sides estimated highly the activities of the Strategic Partnership Commission, which is jointly chaired by Head of the Foreign Ministry of Kazakhstan Erlan Idrissov and Head of the US State Department John Kerry, the Kazakh MFA's press service said. Cooperation in the area of trade and investments was a major issue of the negotiations. The Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan reiterated the thesis of the Kazakhstan's President on the interests of our country in active participation by the US companies in the program of industrial-innovative development of Kazakhstan. He also called on the US companies to take part in EXPO -2017. Since 1993, the volume of the US investments into Kazakhstan economy exceeded US$ 25 billion. More than 300 joint companies 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%. Erlan Idrissov and Nisha Biswal underscored importance of the launch of Kazakhstan - US Commission on Science and Technology in Astana last year. Launching the Commission was a significant step in the Kazakhstan's diplomacy efforts in the development of science and innovations cooperation between Kazakhstan and the USA. The diplomats shared the views on urgent issues of international relations and regional security, including the situation in Ukraine.