Shri V. Muraleedharan, Minister of State for External Affairs and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs paid a visit to Kazakhstan on 11-12 November 2019 to participate in the 5th Astana Club Meeting, a Regional Discussion Forum held under the patronage
of the First President of Kazakhstan H.E. Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev. Speaking on the theme of "Intersection of Global Interest in Central Asia”, Shri Muraleedharan emphasised on India’s policy of greater cooperation with Central Asian countries through various
mechanisms including the India-Central Asia Dialogue, connectivity through Chabahar and the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and greater cooperation in the field of Security and Counter-Terrorism.
2. Shri Muraleedharan called on H.E. Mr. Nurlan Nigamatulin, Chairman of the Majilis, the Lower House of the Kazakh Parliament. During the meeting, both sides agreed on the need for strengthening inter-parliamentary cooperation between the two countries. The
Kazakh side thanked for India’s participation at high level in the recently held Meeting of the Speakers of Eurasian Countries’ Parliaments held in Nur-Sultan on 23-24 September 2019. Shri Harivansh, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha had represented India in
the Meeting.
3. During the meeting held with H.E. Mr. Mukthar Tleuberdi, the Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan, both sides highly evaluated the ongoing cooperation between the two countries. Recalling the Strategic Partnership between India and Kazakhstan, both sides decided
to further strengthen their cooperation in the fields of energy, trade and investment, IT, civil aviation, connectivity and in the multilateral fora, including the United Nations. Foreign Minister Tleuberdi welcomed the First India-Central Asia Dialogue held
at the level of Foreign Minsters’ in January 2019 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan and looked forward to the next edition planned to be held in New Delhi in 2020. Shri Muraleedharan called on the Kazakh side to join the Coalition of Disaster Resilient Infrastructure
(CDRI), launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi during the UN Climate Action Summit in New York on 23 September 2019.
4. During an interaction with the Kazakh First Vice Minister for Energy H.E. Mr. M. Dosmukhambetov, Minister of State Shri Muraleedharan expressed India’s strong interest in expanding the participation of Indian oil companies in the Kazakh hydrocarbon sector.
5. The two sides agreed to continue further discussions in various areas during the framework of the next bilateral Inter-Governmental Commission Meeting expected to be held in New Delhi in near future.
New Delhi,
November 14, 2019