On August 22 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov and Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev chaired the 7th meeting of the Supreme Interstate Council of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
At the start of the meeting, Tokayev noted that Kazakhs and Kyrgyz are fraternal peoples linked by a common history and destiny. “Today, relations between the two peoples have grown into an unbreakable partnership based on mutual trust and respect. Relations between the two countries are developing in the spirit of alliance. Kyrgyzstan is one of Kazakhstan’s main strategic partners in the region. The volume of bilateral trade has reached about $2 billion. There is every opportunity to increase this figure. Investment cooperation is expanding every year, which has allowed us to successfully implement a number of joint projects. We coordinate actions in the water and energy sector. Ties in the cultural and humanitarian sphere are strengthening,” said the President of Kazakhstan.
Japarov emphasized that “Kazakhstan is our closest neighbor, a brotherly country that occupies a special place in Kyrgyzstan’s foreign policy, and one of our main trading partners. Strategic partnership and allied relations are confidently developing between our states. Our peoples have lived in harmony and friendship for a long time, supporting each other. After all, the Kyrgyz and Kazakhs are twin nations. The great [Kazakh thinker] Abai once said: ‘Not a single Kazakh will doubt the common origin of the Kyrgyz and Kazakhs’,” Japarov stated.
The meeting addressed issues of cooperation in trade and economic, transport and transit, water and energy, and cultural and humanitarian spheres.
Japarov noted the importance of increasing the volume of mutual trade to $3 billion by 2030 and outlined priority areas of cooperation, including the creation of favorable conditions for access of goods to the markets of the two countries, the implementation of joint investment projects in industry, agriculture, and energy, as well as the modernization of border infrastructure. He also noted the ongoing reconstruction of checkpoints on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border and the promising project to build a highway connecting Almaty and Lake Issyk-Kul with the support of the Asian Development Bank.
Japarov and Tokayev signed the decision of the Supreme Interstate Council “On approval of the Comprehensive Plan for Cooperation between the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2025-2027”.
The parties signed a Roadmap for increasing trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan until 2030.
The two countries also announced the opening of a branch of the Gumilyov Eurasian National University (Kazakhstan) at the Osh State University in Kyrgyzstan.
Tokayev awarded President Japarov the highest state decoration of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Altyn Kyran Order.
Photo: akorda.kz
