Rinkevics: Kazakhstan is a major partner for Latvia in Central Asia

This weekend, on the sidelines of the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the Foreign Minister of Latvia, Edgars Rinkevics, met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Erlan Idrissov, informs LETA.

During their meeting, Rinkevics noted that Kazakhstan is a major partner for Latvia in Central Asia and that both countries have successful bilateral cooperation. The Latvian foreign minister pointed out that Kazakhstan is Latvia’s most important economic cooperation partner in Central Asia. Nevertheless, bilateral economic relations can be further explored and expanded, he said. The Latvian Foreign Minister said there are good prospects in transport, pharmaceuticals, information technologies, waste management and recycling, food processing, higher education, finance, and construction.

Rinkevics also highlighted Kazakhstan as an important transit partner and said that Latvia appreciates cooperation with Kazakhstan in railway transport along the transport corridor to Southeast Asia.

Latvia shows promise and good perspectives as a logistics hub for the distribution of Chinese products in the Baltic States and Scandinavia. And there is also good outlook for the future of the transport and logistics link between Kazakhstan and the PRC’s special economic development zone (SEDZ) in Horgos.

At the meeting, Minister Rinkevics welcomed the conclusion of negotiations on Kazakhstan’s membership of the World Trade Organisation, which Latvia considers essential for the fostering of stable and predictable trade relations.

Foreign Ministers Rinkevics and Idrissov also discussed cooperation in international organisations, and the United Nations in particular.

At the end of the meeting, Rinkevics commended the interest and participation of representatives from Kazakhstan in the Advanced Programme in European Law & Economics for the Eastern Partnership region and Central Asia, which the Riga Graduate School of Law plans to continue.

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