On July 5, Astana hosted a meeting between the Kazakh Minister of Foreign Affairs Murat Nurtleu and the Federal Councilor, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis on strengthening bilateral relationships, QazMonitor reports citing the MFA.
The parties discussed the prospects for the development of cooperation in the political, trade, economic, investment, cultural, humanitarian, scientific, technical and tourism fields.
The diplomats highlighted the importance of maintaining a regular political dialogue as well as increasing trade, economic and investment cooperation. According to statistics, Kazakh-Swiss trade reached $1.4 billion at the end of last year.
During the meeting also discussed the expansion and modernization of the bilateral legal framework, including the consular legal sphere, as well as interaction on the issues of confiscation and return of assets obtained by criminal means.
Switzerland is one of the three largest foreign investors in the economy of Kazakhstan with an accumulated volume of capital investments in the form of direct investments of more than $31 billion. Over 300 companies with Swiss capital are registered in Kazakhstan, and some of them are industry flagships. In particular, the parties noted a successful implementation of the long-term investment agreement signed last year between Stadler and Kazakhstan Temir Zholy NC JSC.
