Fifteen years of productive bilateral cooperation and collaboration within international organizations

The upcoming celebration on June 5, 2007 of the fifteenth anniversary since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of Kazakhstan offers an excellent occasion to outline the state and prospects of Bulgarian-Kazakh relations.

On December 23, 1991 Bulgaria recognized Kazakhstan’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. With the decision, our country became one of the first to acknowledge Kazakhstan’s individual role in international relations. This naturally led to the day of July 5, 1992, when a Protocol on the Establishment of Diplomatic and Consular Relations was signed between the two countries.

Now, from the hindsight of this short yet productive period, we can categorically declare: Bulgaria and Kazakhstan did not only lay stable foundations for boosting their contacts in the various spheres but have also achieved significant and positive results.

Ivailo Kalfin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs

Undoubtedly, political dialogue was a key factor in the development of the bilateral relations

The exchange of official visits between the presidents of the two countries had an important role in the setting of the direction of our political and trade and economic cooperation and for the formation of a solid contractual-legal base. No less fruitful was the official visit of Georgi Parvanov to Astana in September 2003. The talks of the Bulgarian President with the Kazakh head of state Nursultan Nazarbayev outlined our shared contemporary goals to conduct a pragmatic foreign policy in line with the two countries’ national interests as well as Bulgaria and Kazakhstan’s contributions to generating stability on the Balkans and in Central Asia.

Bulgaria highly commended the results of the first official visit of Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov in July 2006, which gave a new pragmatic impetus to our bilateral cooperation. A number of concrete opportunities and joint projects were outlined.

During that period fruitful contacts between the two countries’ parliaments were also established. A Group for Friendship Bulgaria – Kazakhstan was set up within the National Assembly.

I would like to place special emphasis on Bulgaria and Kazakhstan’s shared positions on topical international issues: the combat against terror, illegal trafficking in drugs, weapons and human beings. This has fostered excellent conditions for bilateral relations and for active cooperation with Kazakhstan’s diplomacy within the international organizations, where the two countries mutually support each other on a number of issues and during debates on candidacies in their elective bodies.

Bulgaria views Kazakhstan as an important economic partner, with whom it wants to develop a long-term and mutually-beneficial cooperation

I believe that the favourable environment in the field of political cooperation will serve as an impetus for enhancing our trade and economic relations and the implementation of major projects and investments.

I am convinced there are tangible prerequisites and excellent opportunities for cooperation in the energy sphere. Kazakhstan owns one of the largest reserves of energy resources in Central Asia and the Caspian Sea region and needs direct access to the global market. Bulgaria’s energy policy, on the other hand, is aimed at finding new sources and further establishment of the country as an important transit point in the transportation of energy resources from Asia and the Caspian region to European and global markets. Bulgaria is one of the initiators and key participants in the development and implementation of a number of energy infrastructure projects, including the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline and the Nabucco pipeline, which will transport oil from the Caspian Sea region and the Middle East. Kazakhstan has an important role in the implementation of both projects.

I would also like to note with pleasure that
Kazakhstan has fostered excellent conditions for the preservation of the Bulgarian identity
of our compatriots – the Kazakh citizens of Bulgarian extraction. We are grateful to the Kazakh authorities for the cooperation they render to the work of the Bulgarian Cultural Centre in Almaty as well as to the other three centres on the territory of the country.

Bulgaria’s membership in the European Union has opened new opportunities for cooperation with Kazakhstan, which, I am convinced, we will draw on with joint efforts. I believe that the new EU Central Asia strategy, in the drafting of which Bulgaria participated actively, will serve as a driver in the implementation of many, including Bulgaria – Kazakhstan, projects. This will be a new challenge in the future cooperation between Bulgaria and Kazakhstan’s foreign ministries and the other institutions of the two countries.

I would like to take the occasion to express my conviction that the traditionally friendly relations between the peoples of our two countries, bound by historic ties, going way back in time, and the cooperation between Bulgaria and independent Kazakhstan, will further develop successfully and acquire new content.