As part of his official visit to Brussels, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held bilateral negotiations with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
The parties thoroughly discussed the prospects for the development of Kazakh-Belgian relations in the political, trade, economic, investment, and humanitarian areas.
They also exchanged views on pressing issues of the international and regional agenda, and discussed interaction within international organizations.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted that he is visiting Belgium for the first time since he took office as the President.
He stressed that Kazakhstan considers Belgium as an important political and economic partner in the European Union.
Particular importance was placed to strengthening trade, economic and investment cooperation. As President Tokayev noted, Belgium is the sixth largest investor into Kazakhstan’s economy. Since 2005, Belgian investments have totalled $9.3 billion. Despite the pandemic, the volume of mutual trade grew by 13%, exceeding $300 million. In Kazakhstan, there are 65 companies, branches and representative offices with the Belgian capital.
In order to boost economic ties, the sides agreed to create an Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation.
The leaders also exchanged views on tackling the pandemic. President Tokayev informed Prime Minister De Croo about the development of the QazVac vaccine. Commending the Belgian biopharmaceutical industry, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed to establish cooperation between the QazBioPharm National holding and the recently created Belgian Biopharma Platform.
The two leaders also discussed the climate change issues as a follow-up to the COP26 Summit in Glasgow, and informed each other on measures to achieve carbon neutrality at national capacity.
President Tokayev and Prime Minister De Croo also touched upon the issues of enhancing security, combating terrorism, human trafficking, and illegal migration. The President also spoke about the Kazakhstan’s measures to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
Speaking about the contacts with the EU at the regional level, the Head of State reaffirmed his readiness for closer cooperation with Belgium within the “Kazakhstan-EU” and “Central Asia-EU” formats. In this vein, they agreed on the importance of effectively using the full potential of the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Kazakhstan and the EU, as well as the EU Strategy on Central Asia.
The President informed Alexander De Croo about the ongoing large-scale political and economic reforms in Kazakhstan.
The Belgian Prime Minister highly valued the level of cooperation between Kazakhstan and the European Union.
In conclusion, President Tokayev invited Alexander De Croo to pay an official visit to Kazakhstan. Belgian Prime Minister has confirmed his interest in the visit.