Political consultations btw Kazakhstan and Canada held in Astana

ASTANA. KAZINFORM – The third round of Kazakh-Canadian political consultations took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Kazakh delegation was led by First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kairat Umarov, the Canadian delegation was led by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada for Europe, the Arctic, the Middle East and North Africa Sandra McCardell, Kazinform cites the press service of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the meeting the parties discussed the current state and prospects of bilateral Kazakh-Canadian relations and exchanged views on issues of the regional and international agenda.

The diplomats noted the importance of implementing previously reached political agreements, expansion of trade and investment cooperation and intensifying interaction within international organizations.

McCardell, noting that Canada considers Kazakhstan as the most important commercial partner in Central Asia, stressed that Ottawa intends to expand bilateral contacts on a wide range of issues of mutual interest. She added that «Kazakhstan, with a bilateral trade volume surpassing 1 billion US dollars in 2022, is a respected ally in the world arena, with which Canada is cooperating on many priority issues of the international agenda.»

In addition, issues of facilitating the Canadian visa regime and expanding the bilateral legal framework, which will increase the volume of attracted investments, including easing mutual travel of citizens that will positively affect business, tourist and cultural contacts between the two countries were discussed during the meeting.

In general, the Kazakh-Canadian talks confirmed the mutual interest of the parties in further strengthening cooperation in bilateral and multilateral formats.