The Embassy of Kazakhstan hosted a round table event on the 12 May to discuss “The political and economic development of Kazakhstan and the prospects for cooperation with South Africa”
The event was attended by various South Africans with business and travel interests in the country.
H.E Yerkin Akhinzhanov welcomed the guests with an introduction on the country’s history and an overview on the road the country had travelled to get to where it is today.
This year Kazakhstan will be celebrating their 32 year of independence . Historically the people of the land locked country were cattle breeders and nomads. The ancient silk route crossed Kazakhstan and played a pivotal role in trade with neighbouring countries.
In the last year roughly 500 South Africans have travelled to Kazakhstan, with most of the visa applications being for business purposes. There is keen interest in the engineering sector for South Africans in the country. The official languages of the country are Kazakh and Russian with English and German coming in as foreign languages. With more than 130 nationalities and 117 spoken languages in Kazakhstan, the country is truly multilingual. Kazakhstan has a strong tradition of respecting the languages spoken among different ethnic groups and nationalities in the country.
South Africa and Kazakhstan established full diplomatic
relations on 5 March 1992. The first Embassy of South Africa opened in 2003 in Almaty and later moved to Astana in 2008.
Kazakhstan aims to further build efforts to improve mechanisms of mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.
With this in mind focus, is on promoting cooperation in the mining industry, engineering, healthcare and agriculture, in particular, in the exchange of advanced technologies. Scholarships are another area that is being explored to enhance these areas of trade.
Trade fairs in Astana provide insight into business opportunities that will benefit both Kazakhstan and South Africa.
Kazakhstan looks forward to building strong ties with South Africa
by Marion Kate
