Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Nurtleu: Relations with Turkey have been upgraded to the
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu said that expanding the scope of cooperation between his country and Turkey is their common goal.
Nurtyleu welcomed Hakan Fidan to the Ministry, who, at his invitation, established official contacts in Astana for the first time as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey.
The two ministers, who met first in person and then during a meeting between the delegations, held a joint press conference.
In his statement, Kazakh Minister Nurtleu said that he was glad to welcome his brother Khakan Fidan to Kazakhstan, the ancestral homeland of the Turkic world, and said: "No matter how far the distance between Altai and Anatolia is, our fraternal peoples have one desire and one dream."
Stating that Turkey is one of the important and secure partners on the Eurasian continent, Nurtleu said: "Today, Ankara's role and authority in the world are growing. Turkey plays an active role in resolving the global crisis and regional conflicts. We highly appreciate Turkey's achievements in the field of economy, education, foreign policy and other areas. Taking this opportunity, in the person of my brother Hakan Fidan, I sincerely congratulate you on the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Turkey and the 500th anniversary of Turkish diplomacy."
Noting the relations based on brotherhood and mutual support between the presidents of the two countries, Nurtleu recalled that last year the relations between Kazakhstan and Turkey were raised to the level of "expanded strategic partnership".
Nurtleu pointed out that the document signed between the two countries on the "expanded strategic partnership" unites not only in terms of bilateral relations, but also the strategic view of the fraternal peoples for the future in one direction.
"We have identified all aspects of Kazakh-Turkish cooperation"
Explaining that President of Kazakhstan Kassym Jomart Tokayev and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made mutual official visits last year, Nurtleu said: "We agree to strengthen cooperation between the two countries on the basis of a common history, spiritual heritage and to raise the level of strategic partnership."
Stressing that today's talks were held in the spirit of friendship, mutual support and trust, Nurtleu also said: "We have identified all aspects of Kazakh-Turkish cooperation. We exchanged views on the current situation in the region and in the international arena. We agreed to further develop our dialogue."
Pointing to the similarity of the positions of the two countries on many international issues, Nurtleu stressed that bilateral cooperation is on the desired path within the framework of organizations such as the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Conference on Cooperation and Confidence-building Measures in Asia.
Nurtleu, stating that they discussed relations, in particular, within the framework of the Organization of Turkic States (TDT), said: "We drew attention to the expansion of the scope of joint projects within the Organization of Turkic States. In this context, the 10th anniversary TDT Fair will be held in Kazakhstan in November this year. We discussed preparations for the anniversary summit of the heads of state dedicated to the organization of a high-level visit of President Erdogan to our country.
" "Turkey is the 4th largest trading partner of Kazakhstan"
The Kazakh Minister stressed the importance of trade and economic cooperation in relations between his country and Turkey.
Noting that Turkey is the 4th largest trading partner of Kazakhstan, Nurtleu continued his words as follows:
"Last year, the volume of mutual trade reached $6.3 billion. In the first 7 months of this year, this figure amounted to $3.6 billion. We agree to further increase this figure in the coming periods. In addition, significant progress has been made in the establishment of medium and small enterprises between the two countries. Currently, more than 4,300 companies with Turkish capital are successfully operating in Kazakhstan."
Nurtleu noted that to date, Turkey has made direct investments worth $4.7 billion in the economy of Kazakhstan and is among the top 10 investors in the country.
Noting that 31 investment projects have been implemented and another 50 projects are being evaluated, Nurtleu said: "Our countries have confirmed the issue of increasing the volume of mutual investments in the future. The potential of the green economy, information technology, space and industrial sectors in Kazakhstan is high. Therefore, I declare that we are ready to provide the necessary support to Turkish companies and investors who intend to come to Kazakhstan."
Nurtleu stressed the need to increase opportunities in the transport and transit sector in the current period of geopolitical and geostrategic instability in the world and noted: "We emphasized that we agree to fully use the potential of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor to increase transportation in this direction. We also discussed the issue of using the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Turkey railway by the Turkish side to diversify transit routes."
Pointing out that one of the important issues in Kazakh-Turkish relations is cooperation in the field of defense industry, Nurtleu said:
"We have agreed to strengthen cultural and humanitarian ties between our countries and implement projects in this area. We discussed the opening of branches of Turkey's leading universities in Kazakhstan. The number of our students studying in Turkey has been growing rapidly in recent years. Currently, 8 thousand 100 students are studying in Turkey. In addition, the number of flights between the two countries has increased from 40 to 93. Direct flights between our capitals have been launched. It is planned to open direct flights between our other cities. All these events bring the two countries closer together."
Nurtleu said that today they are taking new steps to accelerate relations between the two countries, adding: "Our common goal is to expand the scope of cooperation between Kazakhstan and Turkey."
SOURCE:AA