Kazakh Minister of Foreign Affairs to visit ASEAN countries

Kazakh Minister of Foreign Affairs Yerlan Idrissov will visit ASEAN countries in late August and early September, Tengrinews reports citing the press office of the Ministry.

On August 18, Minister Idrissov met with the ambassadors of ‪the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to discuss cooperation between Kazakhstan and the ASEAN countries as well as the Kazakh Minister’s official visit to Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore.

Idrissov met with the Ambassador of Vietnam Nguyen Van Hoa, Indonesian Ambassador Foster Gultom and the Ambassador of Malaysia in Kazakhstan Abdul Khamid in Astana. They discussed signing memorandums of cooperation between their Foreign Ministries and Kazakhstan in the course of the Minister's upcoming visit. 

Idrissov said that strengthening of the ties between the ASEAN and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) would be key to peace and security in Asia.

“Kazakhstan, as the initiator of the CICA, advocates for signing of a memorandum of understanding between the CICA and the ASEAN and hopes for a number of ASEAN countries to enter the CICA as members or observers,” the Ministry's press office reported.

Idrissov also expressed his gratitude to the subgroup of the ASEAN for supporting Kazakhstan’s bid for membership in the ASEAN.

During his visit, Idrissov will partake in the 6th Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations to be held on August 29-30 in Bali, Indonesia and the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States to be held on September 1-4 in Apia, Samoa. During his visit to the ASEAN countries, the Kazakh Minister also plans to discuss cooperation in political, trade, cultural and humanities while touring South-East Asia.

Writing by Gyuzel Kamalova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina