Mutual trade volume between Kazakhstan and Germany remains high - int'l conference

As political scientists noted, in recent years the relations between Europe and Central Asia gained an intensive character owing to growing strategic significance of the countries of our region for foreign policy of the European Union.

According to Director of the Department for Europe of the Kazakh MFA Adil Tursunov, an important event in the cooperation sphere became adoption of the EU and Central Asia: Strategy for a New Partnership. "It is the first such document which reflects interest of Europe in the Central Asian states. Germany, in its turn, is actively connecting to the projects on all priority directions - improvement of legislative framework, environmental protection and education", A.Tursunov said. He noted that Germany is still in top 10 main trade partners of Kazakhstan and despite the crisis, the volume of mutual trade remains high. In 2009 it made up USD 2.9 bln.

As German Ambassador Rainer Eugen Schlageter noted, Germany is satisfied with bilateral relations and there is great potential for development which should be used in the economy sphere. "Political relations between our countries develop well, Kazakh President N.Nazarbayev paid official visits to Germany several times and in the nearest future we expect visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Kazakhstan", the Ambassador noted.