President of Kazakhstan Kasym-Zhomart Tokaev called Singapore a time-tested and reliable partner of Astana. The Kazakh leader said this at a meeting with the President of the Republic of Singapore Tarman Shanmugaratnam.
According to the press service of the President of Kazakhstan, a solemn ceremony of the meeting of the head of the Kazakh state was held at the President of President Singapore.
Having thanked for the hospitality provided by the Kazakh delegation, Tokaev noted that this is the first visit of the President of Kazakhstan to Singapore for more than 20 years. He emphasized that he knew the country well, because he worked here by a diplomat in the 1970s, and he is very pleased to return here again, already as the head of state.
“Today, more than 140 Singaporean companies and joint ventures operate in our country, while the total volume of Singapore investments in the Kazakhstani economy exceeded 1.7 billion dollars. Despite the economic shocks and difficulties caused by pandemia, the volume of mutual trade will soon exceed 2 billion dollars, ”the president said.
Tokaev noted that Kazakhstan intends to open a new chapter in bilateral cooperation, focused on confidential political dialogue, as well as dynamic trade and investment relations.
The Kazakh leader also stated the interest of Kazakhstan in expanding partnerships with Singapore in key sectors such as energy, processing critical raw materials, infrastructure development, digital economy, fintech, agricultural technology, logistics and communication.
In turn, President Tarman Shanmugaratyam highly appreciated the progressive development of interaction between Kazakhstan and Singapore
Presidents agreed to make joint efforts to promote mutually beneficial investment projects, including by strengthening the legal base of bilateral relations.
The parties came to a common opinion on the need to activate cooperation in the fields of education and development of human capital.
During the meeting, the leaders of the two countries thoroughly discussed the prospects for building contacts in the trade, economic, investment and cultural and humanitarian spheres.