Alberto Rubio
The Ambassador of Kazakhstan, Konstantin Zhigalov, underlined the role of Spain as a “key partner” in the European Union during the reception he hosted to celebrate the National Day of the Central Asian country in the year that marks the thirtieth anniversary of its independence.
Zhigalov assured that “relations with Spain continue to strengthen steadily” and gave as an example that, in 2021, “despite the pandemic, both countries held political consultations at the level of deputy foreign ministers in Nursultan in May and regular meetings of the Intergovernmental Commission for Economic and Industrial Cooperation in Madrid in October”.
He added that the constitution of the Parliamentary Cooperation Group was also approved and, during the official visit of the Kazakh Foreign Minister, the Intergovernmental Agreement on Scientific and Technical Cooperation was signed. He also welcomed the agreement on the maintenance of the A400 M and C-295 aircraft recently acquired by his government.
He also stressed that “Spain is one of Kazakhstan’s 10 largest trading partners” and highlighted the interest of Spanish companies in collaborating with the financial centre of Nursultan.
In this regard, the Director General for North America, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Pacific of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Javier Salido, listed the agreements signed between the two countries that “feed the bilateral relationship”, such as those relating to agriculture, environmental protection, climate change and the cooperation of the respective development cooperation agencies.
Salido added that “Kazakhstan has become a respected international actor that plays a central role in an area of growing geostrategic importance and is particularly active in areas that are important for Spain, such as inter-religious dialogue and the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons”.
The Kazakh ambassador stressed that, since the proclamation of independence, his government has consolidated a modern market economy and a democratic rule of law that allowed Kazakhstan to enter the list of the 50 most competitive economies on the planet in 2012, in addition to being the first Central Asian country to be elected to the UN Security Council in 2017 and the only one to maintain an Association Agreement with the EU, “for which Spain has been a key partner”.
