After the official welcoming ceremony, the leaders discussed issues of bilateral relations in narrow and extended formats.
The President of Kazakhstan thanked the President of Finland for the traditionally warm welcome and stressed that the two countries have the similar approaches and principles in considering regional and international issues.
- Finland and Kazakhstan are the states that are trusted. An example of this is the important meeting recently held in your country between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin. Similar events are also taking place in Kazakhstan, including on the settlement of the Syrian conflict. We discuss various topics. All this is because we are states that maintain equal relations with everyone. Our countries do not have conflicts with their neighbours, Nursultan Nazarbayev stated.
The President of Kazakhstan said that Suomi is a key trade, economic and investment partner of Kazakhstan in Northern Europe, and noted that our country accounts for 90% of Finland’s trade with Central Asia.
- Both our countries have significant potential for further deepening of interaction, therefore it is necessary to accelerate the work of the working groups in the fields of energy, transport, agriculture and education created during the meeting of the intergovernmental commission and start discussing specific projects, the Head of State said.
Nursultan Nazarbayev separately focused on the results of the meeting with representatives of business circles of Finland and noted the importance of the documents inked during the previous business forum.
- We have agreed to launch completely new projects, the implementation of which will strengthen our cooperation. I propose to instruct our governments to take control of implementing the agreements reached, the President of Kazakhstan said.
In turn, the President of Finland welcomed the Head of State and noted that the last bilateral meeting was held during the successfully held international exhibition EXPO-2017 in Astana.
- Since then, our bilateral trade and economic relations have advanced even further. I hope that your visit will contribute to their further deepening. I am always very interested in your views on the events taking place in the world. Today, smart opinions and deep assessments are very much needed, Sauli Niinisto said
At the end of the meeting, the parties have also discussed issues of bilateral cooperation in agriculture, green finance, energy, science and education, cultural and humanitarian contacts.
