On September 16-17, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will pay an official visit to Kazakhstan at the invitation of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The leaders of the two countries will hold talks, and a meeting in the Central Asia-Germany format is also planned. About the achievements of cooperation between Kazakhstan and Germany — in the material of the correspondent of the Kazinform agency.

32 years of cooperation

Diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Germany were established on February 11, 1992. In December of that year, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany was opened in Almaty. In September 1993, the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Bonn was opened, in 1999 it was moved to Berlin.
In general, Kazakh-German relations are developing on the basis of trusting dialogue and mutual friendly ties.

With the establishment of diplomatic relations, an important period of strengthening mutual cooperation began. For example, in December 2019, the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev paid an official visit to Germany. Then, on February 14-16, 2020, the Head of State went to this country on another visit to participate in the Munich Security Conference. Last year, on September 28-29, the Head of State visited the German land for the third time to participate in the C5 + Germany dialogue. At this forum, the two countries paid attention to issues of trade and economic relations, the development of new transport and transit corridors, and cooperation in the energy sector.

In addition, inter-parliamentary relations are developing successfully. The speakers of both houses of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan visited Germany in 2012, 2015 and 2017.Most of the agreements between Kazakhstan and Germany are concluded in the areas of raw materials, industry and technology. In addition, Kazakhstan and Germany have concluded: Agreement on the development of large-scale cooperation in the economic, industrial, scientific and technical spheres; Agreement on cultural cooperation; Agreement between the governments of Kazakhstan and Germany on cooperation in the fight against organized crime, terrorism and other dangerous types of crime.

Trade and economic relations

It should be noted that cooperation between the two countries in the trade and economic area is developing successfully. Thus, in 2021, mutual trade turnover amounted to $ 2.2 billion, in 2022 it reached $ 2.8 billion, and in 2023 - $ 3.9 billion. Thus, Germany is among the 10 largest trading partners of Kazakhstan.

Of last year's trade turnover, 742.3 million dollars (924.4 thousand tons) came from Kazakh exports (a threefold increase), the rest was mostly imports from Germany in the amount of 3.1 billion dollars. Last year, Kazakhstan increased its supplies of turboprop engines to Germany by 3.5 times (700 kg). Oil supplies increased by 4.7 times (668.4 thousand tons), coal - by 4.8 thousand tons (101.2 thousand tons). Also last year, 277.4 tons of nickel and 26.7 tons of aircraft were sent to this country. However, there is a decrease in some items. For example, the sale of ferroalloys decreased by 9.6% (71.8 thousand tons), the sale of insulated wires by 33% (370.9 tons), the sale of phosphorus by 1.6 times, with a decrease to 9.9 thousand tons.In addition to the above, fish fillets were also exported to Germany last year (2.2 thousand tons).

Imports from Germany last year, compared to 2022, increased by 23.5% and amounted to 293.5 thousand tons. 4.7 thousand cars entered our automobile market (an increase of 1.9 times). It should be noted that German manufacturers also influence the technical base of the agricultural sector of Kazakhstan. Last year, about 2 thousand units of equipment were delivered, of which 1.1 thousand were tractors (an increase of 1.8 times), 740 were agricultural machinery. In addition, 41.8 thousand tons of trailers and 10 thousand tons of motor oil were brought.

Also, 2.4 thousand tons of pharmaceutical products were delivered, the growth slightly increased (1.2%). The number of steam boilers delivered from Germany to Kazakhstan increased 30 times (1.3 thousand tons), medical equipment - 1.9 times (868.9 tons), pumps by 21.7% (2.4 thousand tons). At the same time, it turned out that domestic stores bought a lot of German chocolate. Its volume reached 3.5 thousand tons, the growth was 16.5%.

Germany has not lost interest in projects on Kazakh soil. According to the National Bank, in 2005-2022, the inflow of investments from Germany to Kazakhstan amounted to 5.84 billion dollars. Last year, this figure reached 712 million euros - a record annual level.

Cultural and humanitarian relations

Cultural and humanitarian ties between the two countries are developing dynamically. 226 thousand Germans live in our country. More than 1 million of our former compatriots live in Germany. These figures contribute to strengthening the friendship between the two countries. 

A joint Kazakh-German commission on cultural cooperation is currently working. The intergovernmental commission on ethnic Germans deals with issues of the German diaspora. The 19th meeting of this commission was held in Berlin in March 2023. In addition, it should be noted that, since 1994, cooperation with higher education institutions in Germany has been established within the framework of the Bolashak program. 

Kazakhstan attaches particular importance to facilitating the visa regime.In September and December 2017, meetings of the Working Group on Visa Issues of the European Council were held, and the majority of EU Member States supported the study of the issue of visa facilitation with Kazakhstan. On 21–23 August 2023, a group of MEPs headed by the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee David McAllister visited Kazakhstan. During this visit, negotiations were held between the European MEPs and a number of state bodies of Kazakhstan, including official representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

— It is expected that the subject of keen discussion between the Chancellor of Germany and the President of Kazakhstan will be the implementation of previous and the conclusion of new agreements in the cultural, humanitarian, scientific, educational and environmental spheres, as well as practical steps to give new impetus to cooperation in the fields of energy, transport logistics, agriculture, chemistry, mechanical engineering, etc.

There will also be an exchange of views on pressing issues of the current geopolitical agenda and approaches to their resolution, including the possible use of the mediation potential of Kazakhstan and Germany. A similar set of issues concerning new horizons of interregional cooperation will be addressed at the Central Asia-Germany summit, which logically complements a number of initiative dialogues “Central Asia+”, which operate with all leading countries of the world.It is symbolic that the second summit will be held in Astana, which testifies to the key role of Kazakhstan in the multifaceted process of integration of the Central Asian region with the leading European power, - said Marat Ramazanov, chief expert of the Department of European and American Studies of the KISI under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

 

Author

Muratbek Makulbekov