Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Kazakhstan and Romania intend to strengthen cooperation across the entire spectrum of bilateral relations, expanding cooperation in the areas of information technology, innovation and agro-industry.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Roman Vasilenko, made an official visit to Romania, the press service of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports on December 17.

Meetings were held with representatives of the Romanian official and business circles, and the mass media.

During the meeting with the Deputy Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies of the Romanian Parliament Florin Iordache, the parties noted the high level of development of inter-parliamentary cooperation in recent years and expressed mutual desire to further strengthen relations. In 2019, a delegation of the Mazhilis of the Parliament led by the chairman of the inter-parliamentary friendship group "Kazakhstan - Romania" Bakhytzhan Ertayev will visit Bucharest.

In addition, Vasilenko held a series of meetings with members of the Romanian government. The current situation and prospects for the development of cooperation in the field of agro-industrial complex were discussed with Petre Daea, Minister of Agriculture. The parties agreed to hold Daea's visit to Kazakhstan in the second half of 2019, as well as to elaborate a cooperation agreement between the ministries of Kazakh and Romanian agriculture.

Vasilenko discussed the possibilities of expanding interaction in the field of information technology and digitalization with the Minister of Communications and Information Society of Romania Alexandru Petrescu. During the meeting, the Romanian politician voiced an invitation to his Kazakh counterpart, the Minister of Information and Communications Dauren Abaev, to visit Bucharest in 2019. The parties also agreed to work out the signing of a bilateral agreement on cooperation in the field of information technology.

Also, the Kazakh delegation visited the largest city of Transylvania, Cluj-Napoca, where it met with the prefect of the Cluj county, Ioan Kerekesh, to discuss prospects for the development of relations between the regions of Kazakhstan and Romania. As part of negotiations with the business circles of the districts, Cluj and Muresh, Vasilenko familiarized the local business community with the Kazakh investment climate and potential by inviting Romanian businessmen to the development of the Kazakhstan market and the use of financial and tax incentives provided to foreign investors.

Kazakh diplomats also familiarized themselves with the activities of the IT cluster of Cluj-Napoca, which is one of the largest information technology development centers in South-Eastern Europe. Following the meeting with the leadership of the cluster, an agreement was reached on holding events jointly with the Astana Hub International Technopark, including organizing a visit to Romania of the leadership of the Kazakh IT hub and signing a memorandum of cooperation.

At the same day, an interesting discussion took place on the prospects for the development of information technologies in the Honorary Consulate of Kazakhstan with Kazakh students studying at various universities in Cluj-Napoca.

In January-September, the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Romania amounted to $ 1.27 billion, which is 45 percent more than in the same period of 2017.

---

Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz