Yerlan Idrissov and Guido Westerwelle

The visit of Idrissov to Germany upon an invitation of the Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle lasted from January 30 to February 1. During the visit Kazakhstan Minister held several bilateral meetings with representatives of German political and business circles.

Idrissov’s visit also included signing of several important bilateral economic agreements. Two memorandums were signed with German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ) on cooperation in development of content for Astana Economic Forum and in key directions of bilateral industrial and technological partnership.

Three documents were signed with German Energy Agency (DENA), German Steinbeis Center and EMD GmbH on cooperation in energy-saving, development of renewable energy sources and creation of Kazakhstan-German Center for transfer of technologies in the framework of Kazakhstan’s preparation for the EXPO-2017.

Idrissov met with representatives of different party factions of German Bundestag and discussed important aspects of the bilateral relations. German deputies noted a key role that Kazakhstan was playing in Central Asia and praised the goals set by Nursultan Nazarbayev in his State-of-Union Address called Kazakhstan-2050.

Kazakhstan Foreign Minister met with Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister of Economy and Technologies of Germany Philipp Rösler to discuss bilateral trade and economic, investment and technological cooperation. The officials also discussed implementation of agreements reached during Nazarbayev’s visit to Berlin in February 2012.

Kazakhstan Foreign Minister had a meeting with a member of the presidium of the Business Council on Strategic Cooperation of Kazakhstan and Germany and deputy Minister of Economy and Technology of Germany Werner Ressing and co-chairman of business council, executive director of Deutsche Bank for Central and Eastern Europe Peter Tils. The meeting covered enhancement of trade and economic and investment cooperation between the two countries. The German party also introduced Idrissov to the course of implementation of the industrial and technological partnership agreements between the two countries reached during Nazarbayev’s visit to Germany in 2012.

Kazakhstan Foreign Minister delivered a speech at the fifth meeting of the Berlin Eurasian Club that was attended by outstanding German political leaders, representatives of business circles and media outlets. In his presentation on European security Idrissov expressed Kazakhstan’s vision of global and regional security, Eurasian integration and suggested to expand the dialog inviting representatives of western and post-soviet community to take part in the Berlin Eurasian Club.

During the last day of the visit Kazakhstan Foreign Minister had talks with Federal Foreign Minister of Germany Guido Westerwelle to discuss the current status and prospects of the bilateral cooperation in political, trade and economic, cultural and humanitarian sectors. After the meeting the officials signed a joint declaration called to expand cooperation between foreign ministries of the two countries.