The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan , Kassym Jomart Tokayev will visit Pakistan in Nov this year on the invitation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The visit is being seen as a milestone in the history of bilateral relations and cooperation. Sides have attached a lot of expectations to this visit because mutual trade and economic cooperation could take a significant leap forward. The sides are working on enhancing the level to USD 1 Billion as early as possible.
Ambassador Yerzhan Kistafin held an interaction with journalists of Islamabad on 22 Sep in the same regard. He enlightened the media persons on a variety of topics related to reforms in his country, transformation into AI and Digital Development, President’s address to the nation, the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions recently held in Astana, connectivity between Central and South Asia, North South and Middle Corridors.
He shared that presently the bilateral trade stands at USD 293 million but it does not depict the real potential existing between two states. He mentioned Kazakhstan Pakistan Business Forum held in Karachi in April this year as a promising event to boost trade and investments.
Ambassador said, the biggest ever trade delegation consisting of 150 businessmen from Kazakhstan participated in the forum. 500 Pakistani representatives of companies and trade groups attended. Earlier , this month Deputy Prime Minister / Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan visited Pakistan with ministers of trade, transport, agriculture, AI and Digital Development as precursor of the visit of the President.
At the 08th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, the Ambassador mentioned the participation of the Pakistani minister of religious affairs and award of the distinction of the Ambassador of Goodwill for professor from IIUI Prof. Dr. Muhammad Zia Ul Haq. He said, the conference is the demonstration of Kazakhstan’s commitment to build peace and harmony among all faiths and beliefs in the world.
As the President said in his address , Kazakhstan is known as the most important link between Europe and Asia. The volume of cargo transported across our territory exceeded one billion tonnes last year. The Ambassador gave a presentation to the media to further elaborate the matter from a Pakistani perspective.
Mr. Kistafin detailed the two corridors as major veins to connect the regions and also spoke highly of their linking with Pakistan to reach Gwadar and Port Qasim.
President Tokayev rightly mentioned in his address,
” The North–South corridor opens direct access to the markets of the Persian Gulf and South Asia. The East–West corridor and China’s global Belt and Road Initiative are strengthening Kazakhstan’s role as the main land bridge of Eurasia. The development of the Trans-Caspian Transport Route is also of key importance for Kazakhstan. All these routes should function as a single system, bringing tangible income and new infrastructure investment to our country, as well as creating high-quality jobs. Digital solutions should be widely implemented to achieve efficiency.”
Ambassador explained this connectivity to the journalists with maps on multimedia and answered their questions. He said the Middle Corridor will connect China , Kazakhstan, Caspian, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkiye into the EU while North South will be a route between India and Kazakhstan via India , Bander Abbas of Iran, Caspian, Russia and Kazakhstan.
He said, Pakistan is welcome to join these corridors and it is win-win for all parties. These corridors provide transit not only for some countries but the regions of Central Asia, South Asia and beyond at continental level. Ambassador emphasized , ” Pakistan must be a part of these corridors.”
Having India in the North South corridor, on question by this scribe, the Ambassador replied , ” The differences can be sorted out through dialogue. India is part of the connectivity project and India must be integrated as well as engaged in the development. The engagements further pave the way for settlements of disputes like we see in the European Union.”
Ambassador stressed good neighborhood when Afghanistan’s centrality in connectivity was being discussed. In every discussion on connectivity, the question on Afghanistan specially rises. Ambassador referred to Islamic teachings about the rights of the neighbors. In the context of India Afghanistan and Pakistan, he admitted that good neighborliness is a reciprocal affair, two way process.
On Railway connectivity, the Ambassador expressed his hope for connecting Pakistan with Turghundi–Herat of Turkmenistan Afghanistan by Farah, Qandhar, Spin Boldak, Chaman, Karachi. However , he mentioned that Kazakhstan Pakistan can use land routes via China or via Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan.
On Education cooperation between Kazakhstan and Pakistan, the Ambassador noted one thousand Pakistani students studying in his country. Most of them are medical students. Kazakhstan is opening the joint campuses of international universities like Cambridge, Arizona etc in other disciplines, engineering, IT etc. He mentioned the visit of a delegation of education officials from Kazakhstan to Pakistan that signed MoUs with 20 Universities in Pakistan.
National Anthems of Kazakhstan and Pakistan
Embassy Press Release
H.E. Ambassador Mr. Yerzhan Kistafin outlined the main provisions and key messages of President Tokayev’s Address to the Nation titled “Kazakhstan in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: Current Challenges and Solutions through Digital Transformation”.
The Ambassador drew special attention of the briefing participants to the Head of State’s task regarding the construction of the Turghundi–Herat railway and access to the Pakistani market.
The Head of Mission delivered a detailed presentation with a particular emphasis on the advantageous benefits of this project for Pakistan.
In the context of Kazakhstan’s digital agenda, the Ambassador informed about the work carried out within the framework of the joint Kazakhstan–Pakistan Working Group on IT and Telecommunications.
In addition, the participants were briefed on the outcomes of the 8th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, which took place in Kazakhstan’s capital on September 17 this year, and in which the Pakistani delegation, traditionally headed by Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony H.E. Mr. Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, took part.
Along with this, the Ambassador spoke about ongoing efforts to develop Kazakhstan-Pakistan cooperation, in particular the 13th meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission held in Islamabad and the business forum in Karachi in April this year, as well as the first official visit of Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan H. E. Mr. Murat Nurtleu to Islamabad on September 8-9 this year.
The Ambassador stated that the recent visit of the head of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy office and the results of his negotiations with the leadership of Pakistan laid a solid foundation for the successful state visit of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Islamabad later this year.
