A Kazakh-Armenian roundtable on “Armenia – Kazakhstan: New Approaches, New Cooperation” was held in the Armenian capital. The forum organized by the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan together with the Armenian Institute for Resilience and Statecraft was attended by representatives of the expert community of the two countries. During the round table, detailed information was provided on the implementation of large-scale political and socio-economic reforms in Kazakhstan, including measures taken to ensure the protection of human rights, DKNews.kz reports.
Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Armenia Bolat Imanbayev briefed the participants on the current state and prospects for further strengthening of bilateral ties, noting that close and trusting contacts at the highest and high levels, active development of inter-parliamentary and interagency cooperation contributes to dynamic interaction. It was emphasized that holding an expert meeting for the first time in an offline format is in demand and reflects the mutual intentions of the parties for rapprochement.
According to the director of the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Erkin Tukumov, strengthening cooperation between the expert circles of the two countries seems important in the context of understanding and analyzing current events, positioning and setting priorities.
“It is important, including through expert dialogue, to strengthen knowledge about each other” Erkin Tukumov
The forum provided an opportunity for experts from the two countries to exchange views on key areas of bilateral cooperation, the results of the recent official visit of the Head of State of Kazakhstan to Armenia, issues of regional policy, and share their assessments of ongoing processes. According to political scientist, founder of the Armenian Institute for Resilience and Statecraft Gevorg Melikyan, “in the current realities of a complex geopolitical and geo-economic situation, the efforts of international actors to ensure peace and stability are important”.
Commenting on Astana’s efforts to strengthen peace and international security, Head of the Armenian Institute of International Relations and Security Styopa Safaryan noted that “Armenia highly appreciates Kazakhstan’s proposal to promote peace and stability in the South Caucasus region”.
“Today’s forum has shown that contacts between expert communities are very important, as they create the ground for establishing dynamic relations both between countries and society as a whole” Тhe representative of the Orbeli Centre for Analytical Studies Vladimir Martirosyan
During the lively discussion, the participants also discussed promising areas of co-operation between the expert circles of the two countries, and expressed a common opinion on the need to continue meetings at the expert level.
Following the forum, a memorandum of co-operation was signed between the Kazakhstan Institute of Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Armenian Institute for Resilience and Statecraft.
