Today, June 27, Prime Minister of Romania, Mr. Victor Ponta, is on an official visit to the Republic of Kazakhstan, the first at this level in the history of bilateral relations between the two countries.

Kazakhstan is important for Romania both due to hydrocarbon reserves (oil and gas) and geopolitical position - is in an important area for European and international security and stability.
This visit is a reconfirmation of good relations with Kazakhstan, Romania's most important partner in Central Asia. In fact, officials in Astana showed particular interest that this meeting should take place immediately after the favorable resolution of the Rompetrol case which provided favorable conditions for the development of economic relations between the two countries.
Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Serik Akhmetov and President Kazmunaigaz spoke on the meeting with Prime Minister Victor Ponta, about the opportunity for new investments in Romania. Also, Kazakh side put forward to its Romanian counterpart, the proposal to ensure gas supplies from Kazakhstan in Romania, an option in this regard is an extension of the South Stream pipeline from Bulgaria to Romania.
Equally, partners in Kazakhstan have expressed their openness and availability to sign a commercial contract for the supply of uranium for domestic consumption for the Cernavoda nuclear units.
Romanian delegation led by Prime Minister Victor Ponta sought in bilateral meetings, to open opportunities for expanding the Romanian companies’ presence on the market in Kazakhstan and developing trade relations. In this respect, there was suggested to partners in Kazakhstan a more intense use of the Oil Terminal Constanta, and opening by Kazakhstan airlines of some Astana- Bucharest flights.
Also, in order to support the business environment in its effort to identify niches of cooperation, the Romanian side put forward and and Kazakh side agreed that Joint Economic Commission meeting to be held this autumn.
Finally, government officials in Kazakhstan invited Romania to participate with its own stand at the World Expo "Astana 2017".
Further to discussions, there took place the signing of two bilateral agreements - in the field of culture, that of military cooperation for training military personnel on the basis of reciprocity.
The Asian tour of Prime Minister Victor Ponta will continue with his visit to the Republic of Uzbekistan.

 

Joint press statements by Prime Minister Victor Ponta and his Kazakh counterpart, Serik Akhmetov

Serik Akhmetov:
Mr. Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen, I had the opportunity to address a number of aspects of the cooperation between our countries. We determined several directions regarding the perspective of cooperation in the economic, trade, investment area. We also discussed the issues of transport and transit potential, potential that the two countries have in the regions they belong to. We discussed cooperation in trade, education. Of course, we approached a wider area of our collaboration, namely the energy and when we talk about energy, the most important of our collaboration is related to the presence of Rompetrol company whose majority shareholder is Kazmunaigaz company in Kazakhstan. Everything was discussed and those early times of the company Kazmunaigaz, the collaboration with the Romanian State, and Romanian market presence, all will be discussed further in the joint intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation.
I appreciate today the signing of those documents, two important documents in culture and in training of military personnel, on a reciprocal basis. I concluded with my Romanian counterpart, that today, of course there is huge potential for cooperation between our countries, both in the commercial, economic, transportation, and education, culture and many other areas. I can also tell you as a result of discussions with the Prime Minister of Romania, we concluded that on many issues related to the international agenda , we have common positions of mutual support in international forums and organizations. We agreed to continue our efforts on those areas and priority areas that constitute our cooperation in general. I want to thank my colleague from Romania and to give the floor.

Victor Ponta
I would like at the outset to thank the Prime Minister for the invitation to visit Kazakhstan and to be here today in Astana. That is the first visit of a Romanian Prime Minister in Astana, this says a lot about how to do in the future to have such meetings as often as possible. I know some time ago, EC President Barroso said that we must recognize the role and importance of Kazakhstan. I agree and I wanted today in Astana, to discuss with the Kazakh Government to about the many areas where we can cooperate. We had the political will to make a decision and put an end to the dispute between the Government of Romania and Rompetrol. I think we did very well and I think the message is clear that we must think together in the future how we develop our economic relations. I trust that that investment fund of one billion dollars, agreed between the Government of Romania and Rompetrol will create economic development and jobs in Romania. With the support of authorities of Kazakhstan, the Romanian IT companies in energy production or facilities may have access here on the market in Kazakhstan and participate in economic development. I believe that Romania will be that special partner of Kazakhstan in the European Union in the future, and the favorite place for investment in the economy, and for Kazakh products and companies to enter the EU market. We both took over the Prime Minister office last year, in 2012, with major ambitions and big plans for our country and I wish that today's meeting is the beginning of a great relationship. Thank you.