On the eve of his official visit to Germany, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev gave an interview to Deutsche Welle.
President Tokayev’s Press Secretary Berik Uali revealed that during the interview the Head of State focused on the upcoming negotiations with Chancellor Angela Merkel and the state of bilateral relations.
Tokayev stressed that Germany is a key European partner for Kazakhstan, adding that 86% of German trade with the Central Asian region falls at Kazakhstan. The Kazakh President expressed hope that during his visit to Berlin the sides will ink the agreements and memorandums to the tune of nearly $2 billion.
By Kazinform.
In an interview, Tokayev spoke about the special development path of Kazakhstan and wish to cooperate with Germany.
One of the first topics was power transition in Kazakhstan.
“As for Kazakhstan, there has been a political innovation in some way. In the person of Nursultan Nazarbayev, we have the founding father of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a person who deserves great respect, the Leader of the nation. I am the legally elected President, Head of State, Supreme Commander. There are no contradictions (sometimes, you know, the press likes to stoke up this topic) between us. I admit openly that we consult with each other, sometimes I ask his advice. There is no dual power, no tandem - there is a legally elected President ", - Tokayev said.
He also spoke about the development model of Kazakhstan.
“We are striving for our model. We are striving for the development of democracy. And by the way, democracy, unlike some statements in media, exists in the Republic of Kazakhstan. We have more than 3,500 non-governmental organizations that we support. I mentioned the National Council of Public Confidence, comprised of well-known journalists, public figures, bloggers, economists, with whom I consult from time to time. We have built a market economy. In doing business indicator (World Bank index), Kazakhstan is in the 25 place in the world,” - said the President of Kazakhstan.
He touched upon cooperation with Germany.
“For Kazakhstan, Germany is a key European partner. Kazakhstan accounts for 86% of Germany’s trade with Central Asia. During the visit, I hope a package of agreements and a memorandum the sum of about two billion dollars will be signed. Kazakhstan’s attitude to the European Union is exceptionally positive. In 2018, Kazakhstan's trade with the EU exceeded $ 37 billion, which is half of our country's foreign trade. More than 80% of German investment in our economy is in non-primary sector. It is very important,” Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.
He noted that Germany is a world leader in engineering and processing of resource materials.
"That is why we are interested in cooperating with it. All the interest areas will be presented to potential German investors. And we will provide special conditions for them," the Head of State concluded.
