On October 14, 1924 on the territory of present-day Kazakhstan was formed the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast within the Russian SFSR. On December 5, 1936 the Kazakh SSR was established and on October 25, 1990 the Kazakh SSR adopted the declaration of its state sovereignty. On December 16, 1991 an independent state was created – the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Bulgaria recognized Kazakhstan’s independence on December 23, 1991. With Decision of March 20, 1992 the Council of Ministers agreed to open a Bulgarian embassy in Almaty with a staff of four diplomatic officials, including the ambassador and two technical assistants. Three months later in Oslo, at the meeting of the foreign ministers of the NATO and the North Atlantic Cooperation Council countries – June 5, 1992, a protocol was signed establishing diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and Kazakhstan. It was signed by Bulgaria’s and Kazakhstan’s foreign ministers Stoyan Ganev and Tuleitai Suleimanov. On January 14, 1994 Yordan Trenchev was appointed charge d’affaires of the newly opened Bulgarian embassy in Kazakhstan.

The Republic of Kazakhstan accredited its ambassador to Hungary Tulebai Suleimanov for Bulgaria too. On July 29, 1996 he presented his credentials in Sofia to President Peter Stoyanov. The Council of Ministers’ decision of January 28, 2000 envisaged that an honorary consulate of the Republic of Kazakhstan would be opened. For honorary consul, with a seat in Sofia and consular district comprising the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria as of March 8, 2000 was appointed the Bulgarian citizen Plamen Yurukov. In November 2004, Kazakhstan opened an embassy in Sofia, headed by a charge d’affaires.

In a relatively short period a good basis for cooperation was laid between the two countries in different fields. The first big step was made during the official visit of Bulgarian President Dr. Zhelyu Zhelev to Almaty on July 29-31, 1993, when some important documents were signed: Interstate agreement for friendly relations and cooperation, Intergovernmental agreement on trade and economic cooperation, two conventions – in the field of veterinary medicine and in the field of quarantine and plant protection, Protocol for consultations between the foreign ministries. Within the frameworks of the visit of Republic of Bulgaria’s foreign minister Nadezhda Mihailova to the Republic of Kazakhstan on November 13-15, 1997, further three agreements were signed in Almaty: on cooperation in the field of education, science and culture, on avoiding double taxation of income and property, and on international road transport of people and goods.

Bulgaria and Kazakhstan are parties to the Basic Multilateral Agreement on international transport for development of the Europe – the Caucasus – Asia corridor and its technical appendices, signed by the presidents and the government leaders of 12 interested countries on September 8, 1998 in Baku. Another meeting of the foreign ministers of the two countries took place in June 1998 in Luxembourg.

A significant step forward in the development of bilateral relations was the visit of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbaev to Bulgaria on September 15-16, 1999, during which a new package of documents was signed: Declaration for further development of friendly relations and cooperation between the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of Kazakhstan, Intergovernmental agreement for cooperation in the field of tourism, Intergovernmental agreement on mutual promotion and protection of investments, Intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the field of standardization, metrology and certification, Intergovernmental agreement on air communications, Interdepartmental agreement on cooperation in the field agriculture, Interdepartmental agreement on cooperation in the field of education.

An official visit to Sofia was paid by the minister of defence Gen. Col. Muhtar Altinbaev on May 27-29, 1998. A Memorandum for contacts in the military field was signed between the two defence ministries. On March 12-13, 1998 in Sofia the Minister of Labour and Social Protection of Kazakhstan Natalya Korzhova participated in the work of the first session of the Intergovernmental committee for economic and techno-scientific cooperation.

The trade between Bulgaria and Kazakhstan is done on the basis of the Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation, following which the countries grant each other a statute of most favoured nation. This agreement envisages the establishment of a joint committee. By decision of April 5, 2002 the Council of Ministers appointed as chairman for the Bulgarian part the deputy prime minister and minister of regional development and public works. With Note 09-01-1/178 of June 14, 2002 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan informed that the chairman of the Joint committee for trade-economic and techno-scientific cooperation for the Kazakhstan part was appointed the minister of labour and social protection of the population Gulzhan Karagusova. At a UN session on sustainable development in Johannesburg on September 3, 2002 a meeting took place between presidents Georgi Parvanov and Nursultan Nazarbaev.

Bilateral relations between the two countries’ governments continued at different levels. Several thousand Bulgarians live in Kazakhstan. More compact groups are concentrated in Karagandinsk, Pavlodarsk, Aktyubinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan regions and smaller groups live in Atirausk, Kostanaisk and Western Kazakhstan regions. The prevailing part are descendants of Bulgarians who emigrated in the late 17th and the beginning of the 18th century to the territory of the Russian Empire. Later, in the period 1908-1920 some of them moved from Bessarabia and the Crimea to Kazakhstan, and in 1944 about 12 thousand Crimean Bulgarians were deported to Kazakhstan. Bulgarians settled there in the 1950 and the 1960s too, in connection with the establishment of new economic sites. In 1994 in Almaty was opened a Bulgarian Cultural Centre. There are Bulgarian cultural centres also in the town of Atirau, in the Aktyubinsk and Pavlodarsk regions. The Bulgarians in Kazakhstan, although not a big community, have also made a contribution to the development of good relations between the two countries.