Speaker of the Senate Maulen Ashimbayev met with Chairman of the Consultative Council of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Ibrahim Al Ash-Sheikh, who arrived in Kazakhstan with an official visit.
In his speech, Maulen Ashimbayev emphasized that substantial potential for bilateral mutually advantageous cooperation remains between the Senate of the Parliament and the Consultative Council.
The Speaker of the House noted that Saudi Arabia is an important trade and economic partner for Kazakhstan and that the peoples of the two countries are united by religion and spiritual values. This is the foundation upon which our relations are built and are developing dynamically in a wide range of areas, the Senate Speaker added.
“Over the past few years, our relations have been given a new powerful impetus. Of course, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud deserve the main credit for this. First President of Kazakhstan - Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev keeps placing a serious emphasis on the development and strengthening of bilateral relations. The high standard of cooperation established by the Heads of our states should be supported and promoted through the Parliament of Kazakhstan and the Consultative Council of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” he said.
During the talks, the sides expressed interest in deepening the cooperation between the representative bodies of the two states.
“In this matter, the friendship groups established in the Parliament of Kazakhstan and the Consultative Council of the Kingdom between our states play a great role. We are interested in studying Saudi Arabia’s program of diversification and modernization of the economy,” Maulen Ashimbayev noted.
The parties paid a lot of attention to the preparations for the coming VII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions to be held on 14-15 September next year in Nur-Sultan.
In the words of the Speaker of the Senate, Saudi Arabia has traditionally been actively supporting the Kazakhstan inter-religious forum. The interlocutors expressed the hope for further cooperation between the two countries within the framework of the Congress.
“Along with religious leaders, eminent political personalities and heads of international organizations take part in the Congress. The Kingdom’s representatives attend the meetings of the Working Group and the Secretariat of the Congress regularly and make an important contribution to the substantive content of the forum and the preparation of the final documents. I would like to express gratitude to the Saudi side for their active participation in the activity of the forum. And we hope for the support of the VII Congress next year,” Maulen Ashimbayev said.
Also, the issue of combating the pandemic coronavirus was discussed. The Senate Speaker told about the steps taken by Kazakhstan to fight the spread of COVID-19, in particular the development of the domestic vaccine QazVac. He stated that our country is ready to export QazVac to other countries.
The Chairman of the House drew the interlocutor’s attention to the efforts of Kazakhstan in ensuring biological safety in the region and the world because the lessons derived from the pandemic have made it clear that this issue is of great relevance. Maulen Ashimbayev pointed out the importance of the initiative by the President of Kazakhstan to create the International Agency for Biological Safety under the aegis of the United Nations and called on his colleague to support this initiative.
The Senate Speaker noted the high potential for cooperation in the tourism sector. Maulen Ashimbayev dwelled on tourism opportunities in Kazakhstan, spoke about the construction of tourist clusters in Turkestan, on the coast of the Caspian Sea, and in other directions.
In conclusion of the conversation, the parties expressed readiness to actively cooperate and promote further strengthening and expansion of the Kazakhstan - Saudi Arabia relations.
(Press Office of the Senate, 74-72-27. Photo by E. Ukibayev)
