Kazakhstan-US launch Strategic Partnership Commission

ASTANA. April 14. KAZINFORM The Strategic Partnership Commission (SPC) between Kazakhstan and the United States began its work with inaugural meetings held in Washington D.C. on April 9-10. The Kazakhstan delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Umarov took part in the first meetings, the Kazakh MFA's press service said.

The decision to create the Commission was announced following the meeting between Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on February 1, 2012. Co-chaired by Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Umarov and Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake, the SPC aims to become one of the important mechanisms of bilateral dialogue. It was set up to enhance bilateral cooperation in all areas ranging from security, economic cooperation, science and technology, cultural exchanges, democracy and human rights.

In its structure, the Commission includes political, military, economic, scientific and technology groups, as well as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) forum.

The SPC meeting focused on a number of important regional and global issues such as the situation in Afghanistan, nuclear non-proliferation, emerging challenges and threats, trade and investment issues, high-tech cooperation, and facilitation of mutual visits through a reciprocal easing of a visa regime in each country.

The meeting came at a critical juncture and could be regarded as a follow up event after a recent meeting of Presidents Nursultan Nazarbayev and Barack Obama as well as a trilateral meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit last month. The meetings provided a powerful boost to the collaboration between Kazakhstan and the United States.

Kazakhstan is keen to attract the U.S. and Canadian companies to take part in the implementation of various investment projects under the state programme for accelerated industrialization.  In this direction, the country has organized a roadshow presenting information about the investment climate in Kazakhstan in a number of U.S. cities, including Washington, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and in Canada's Vancouver. The events were arranged by the Kazakhstan National Agency for Export and Investment "KAZNEX Invest" under the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies starting on April 10.

The road show was attended by Kazakhstan's Ambassador to the U.S. Erlan Idrissov, Kazakhstan's Ambassador to Canada Konstantin Zhigalov, and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake

During the visit, the Kazakhstan delegation met with representatives of major U.S. and Canadian agricultural, telecommunications, chemical, machine building, metallurgical and pharmaceutical companies.