Kazakhstan-UK cooperation discussed in Nur-Sultan

NUR-SULTAN, November 5 (KAZINFORM) - The eighth plenary meeting of the Kazakhstan-UK Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation (Commission) took place under the co-chairmanship of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Almas Aidarov and UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Minister for International Trade Ranil Jayawardena MP, Kazinform cites the press service of the Kazakh MFA. The meetings of the six working groups of the Commission took place earlier online from October 21 to November 2, 2021. The sides reviewed the results of the Commission’s work over the past year and discussed new areas of bilateral cooperation. The session also presented the reports of the working groups in the financial sector, mining, energy, education, agriculture and digitalisation. Mr Aidarov stressed that, despite the pandemic, the volume of UK investment inflow into Kazakhstan in 2020 increased by 36 percent – from $620 million to $849 million. «I am pleased to highlight that this positive trend has continued in 2021. According to the results of the first half of the year, UK investments in the Kazakh economy increased by 32 percent compared to the same period last year, amounting to $612 million,» the Deputy Foreign Minister said. Mr Jayawardena MP commended Kazakhstan’s efforts to create the most favourable conditions for doing business in the region and confirmed the British side’s interest in widening cooperation in sectors such as digitalisation, agriculture, green energy and healthcare. The meeting concluded with the signing of the Protocol of the 8th session of the Intergovernmental Commission, as well as the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan and Astra Zeneca, the largest UK pharmaceutical company. The Memorandum opens up further prospects for cooperation in the treatment of respiratory, oncological and other diseases, including through the introduction of new technologies. The sides agreed to host the 9th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission in 2022 in London with the involvement of business representatives from both countries.