Following the bilateral talks, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Emmanuel Macron made a joint statement to media.
The President expressed gratitude to Emmanuel Macron for accepting his invitation to pay an official visit to Kazakhstan. He also noted that France is a very important and reliable partner of our country in Europe.
"This year marks the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Strategic Partnership Agreement between the two countries. Our common goal is to further strengthen cooperation based on mutual friendship and support. I am sure that by joint efforts we will achieve these noble goals. Therefore, your visit today is of special significance," Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.
The Head of State noted that during the substantive talks with President Emmanuel Macron, concrete arrangements had been reached to strengthen relations between two states.
"France is one of the largest trading partners of Kazakhstan. For 8 months of the current year, the volume of trade between our countries increased by 21 percent compared to the last year reaching 2.7 billion dollars. France is also one of our main foreign investors. Over the past 15 years, French directed about $18.7 billion investment to our economy. Today we are implementing important projects in the energy, nuclear industry, mining, chemical industry, machinery, construction, aerospace and pharmaceutics. The successful operation of more than 170 French companies, such as Alstom, Total Energies, Orano, Vicat, in our country proves this fact," the President said.
The President said that during the talks, special attention was paid to expanding the colloboration in the areas of trade, economy and investment. The parties also highlighted the importance of implementing new projects in the raw materials, agricultural, transport, logistics sectors, as well as in light manufacturing, healthcare, innovations and finance.
"This is especially relevant in today's difficult geopolitical and geo-economic situation. Today we`ve signed Joint Declaration between Kazakhstan and France on intention to cooperate in strategic materials. As you have seen, we have also reached arrangements with Boehringer Ingelheim, Total Energies, and Alstom. These deals will be beneficial for both economies. In order to effectively implement the envisaged actions, it is necessary to promote investment projects at the ministerial level. To this end, I suggested establishing a special work group," the President said.
Along with this, the sides discussed the green economy transition and climate change. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said that he expressed to Emmanuel Macron a number of concrete proposals that meet the interests of the two countries. The Head of our state declared Kazakhstan's readiness to work together within the framework of the French initiative One Planet Summit.
Taking into consideration the importance of cultural and humanitarian ties, the presidents agreed to pursue a number of projects in education and science fields. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stated that the agreements have been signed to open French schools, teach the French language, and strengthen academic interaction.
The Leaders also exchanged views on regional and global agenda. They called for peaceful and diplomatic settlement of conflicts.
In turn, Emmanuel Macron thanked Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for the invitation to visit Kazakhstan, stressing the necessity of further cooperation between two countries. He also emphasized the convergence of Kazakhstan's and France's positions on many issues.
"Kazakhstan's geographical location and role is significant for us, so we thoroughly discussed the prospects of our economic cooperation. It was confirmed by the agreements signed this morning. You, Mr President, reminded us the importance of French enterprises that are already present in Kazakhstan. They are long standing partnerships in the areas of trade and energy. Several French companies have been operating here for a very long time. We would like to bolster the involvement of our companies in many other fields. We have fundamental areas for partnership. As I mentioned these are the energy sector and aerospace industry," Emmanuel Macron said.
The President of France drew attention to the fact that Kazakhstan plays an important role in global food security.
"I am convinced that our companies can also contribute enhansing the markets. To this, we signed an important agreement on local production FMD vaccines in Kazakhstan. Another promising area for partnership is healthcare. Mr President, you also have mentioned the importance of people-to-people links. Today we have signed a number of agreements on education field," the French leader underlined.
Following the talks, the Presidents of Kazakhstan and France adopted a Joint Statement. Members of the official delegations signed the following documents:
- Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Government of the French Republic on the Establishment and Operation of the French Development Agency Group "AFD" in the Republic of Kazakhstan;
- Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Government of the French Republic concerning the establishment of international (French) schools in the Republic of Kazakhstan and the teaching of French in secondary educational institutions of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
- Joint declaration between Kazakhstan and France on intentions to cooperate on strategic minerals;
- Agreement on cooperation, licenses and supplies between JSC «NH «QazBioPharm» and the company «Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health France» for the local production of FMD vaccine in the Republic of Kazakhstan;
- Agreement on a joint venture for the construction of wind farms with a total capacity of 1 GW with an energy storage system;
- Investment Agreement on the implementation of the project «Production and maintenance of railway locomotives and rolling stock, as well as components for railway equipment in the Republic of Kazakhstan»
