(VOVworld) - President Truong Tan Sang and his delegation began a two-day visit to Kazakhstan on Monday to strengthen the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries. VOV reviews the development of the Vietnam-Kazakhstan relationship.

Situated in central Asia, Kazakhstan is one of the 15 members of the former Soviet Union. Since becoming independent in 1991, Kazakhstan has rapidly moved toward a market economy and has actively integrated into the world economy. The country’s economic reform and drastic privatization has brought about significant achievements. Kazakhstan is currently pursuing industrial policies to diversify its economy. Since 2000, this country has seen a relatively high economic growth. In the past decade, its GDP has increased by 3.5 folds and its agricultural exports 3 folds. Kazakhstan had a GDP growth rate of 7% in 2010 and 7.5% last year. The country’s oil reserve ranks 8^th in the world with an estimate 8 billion tones of oil in its Caspian Sea.

Kazakhstan joined the Customs Alliance with Russia and Belarus in July 2010 hoping to develop a unified economic space between the three countries this year, enabling free exchanges of goods, services, investment and labor. By implementing policies to attract foreign investment, it attracted about 14 billion USD worth in 2010. There are more than 19,000 FDI projects from 137 countries underway in the country.

Since Vietnam and Kazakhstan established diplomatic ties in June 1992, the two countries have maintained their traditional friendship and cooperation by promoting high-level delegation exchanges and bilateral meetings. They  have signed several cooperation framework agreements on economics, trade, diplomacy, education, investment, labor and energy. Bilateral economic and trade cooperation has developed significantly in recent years. Two way trade turnover has increased slightly, reaching 49 million USD last year and 41 million USD so far this year, yet it remains modest  compared to the estimated potential. At the 5^th meeting of the Vietnam-Kazakhstan Intergovernmental Committee for Economic, Trade, Scientific and Technological Cooperation last September, the two signed a joint action plan for the 2011-2013 period. During Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s visit to Vietnam last November, the two countries released a joint statement highlighting opportunities to further bilateral ties in politics, diplomacy, economics, trade, and investment. They both want to attract investment in economics, especially in infrastructure development, mining, garments and textiles, footwear, and rubber processing.

Vietnam and Kazakhstan have closely coordinated and supported each other at UN and other international forums. Kazakhstan supported Vietnam’s becoming a Non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in the 2008-2009 term. They promised to support each other’s entry to the UN Human Rights Council and recognize each other’s market economy status. As a founder of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), Kazakhstan supported Vietnam membership in June 2010. Meanwhile, Vietnam supported Kazakhstan to become a member of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation organization and participate in the ASEAN Regional Forum and the World Trade Organization. Vietnam promised to serve as a bridge linking Kazakhstan with ASEAN, begin the negotiation of a Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the Customs Alliance members Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and set up a working group to support the negotiation.

President Sang’s visit affirms Vietnam’s wish to continue strengthening the time-honored friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries, especially in politics, economics, trade, agriculture, industry, science and education. The visit also aims to call on Kazakhstan’s leaders to facilitate Vietnamese enterprises to participate in oil and gas projects. The visit also marks the 20^th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties.