Astana, April 18, the House of the Mazhilis. Deputy Speaker of the Mazhilis Albert Rau met with Deputy of the Bundestag of Germany, Speaker on foreign policy of the faction of the Social Democratic Party of Germany Nils Schmid. The interlocutors discussed the prospects for the development of bilateral relations.

Albert Rau noted the dynamics in cooperation between Kazakhstan and Germany. According to him, last year turned out to be especially productive, including the official visits of the heads of state and the first Central Asia–Germany summit, which established a strategic partnership between the parties.

– We are confident that this year will be no less active at the bilateral and regional levels. A month ago, the SPD parliamentary faction in the Bundestag adopted a position paper "Central Asia: Building bridges and providing opportunities", defining social democratic approaches to politics in our region. Their implementation would give a significant impetus to the development of cooperation between Germany and Central Asia and Kazakhstan, Albert Rau said.

The Vice Speaker also noted the productive interaction between the parliamentary groups "Kazakhstan – Germany", "Central Asia – Germany". He also proposed to intensify cooperation with German colleagues within the framework of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and PACE, to continue the exchange of experience in the areas of law and lawmaking.

In turn, Nils Schmid stressed that Germany is aimed at developing cooperation with Kazakhstan in the raw materials industry. The parties also discussed the possibility of launching new joint projects in the fields of digitalization, diversified energy sources, transit and transport. We discussed issues of saving water resources and simplifying the issuance of Schengen visas.

The press service of the Mazhilis - 24-38-22. Photo by J. Zhumabekova