Utkal Reporter Bureau|21 September 2017
India and Kazakhstan has commited to “work continuously” to strengthen the bilateral relations as per the agenda set during PM Narendra Modi’s two previous visits to Kazhakistan.
Both the countries agreed to collaborate in gas and oil sector for mutual benefit. They also agreed to work in the nuclear sector for health and agriculture. Besides a lot more scopes were explored in the bilateral discussions inthe 13th Inter Governmental Committee (IGC) meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan during 19-20 September.
Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development Dharmendra Pradhan led the Indian delegation to co-chair the IGC meeting along with Mr. Kanat Bozumbayev, Minister of Energy of Republic of Kazakhstan from the Kazakh side.
During the meetings both Ministers discussed entire gamut of India-Kazakhstan bilateral relations covering all areas of contemporary relevance and issues of mutual concern.
They discussed to find out possibilities to expand cooperation in Exploration and production in Hydrocarbons.
Kazakhstan is strategically located between Europe and Asia and offers enormous business opportunities for investments. The country is rich in mineral resources, such as uranium, oil and natural gas
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Said, India and Kazakhstan enjoy historical and close relations which have withstood the test of time. Today, Kazakhstan is the largest partner of India in the region. There are also great prospects for further development of cooperation, particularly in the areas of trade and commerce, logistics and connectivity, oil and gas, people to people contact activities such as culture and tourism, etc.
As he added that Kazakhstan was one of the first countries with which India launched civil nuclear cooperation through a uranium purchase contract.
Mr Bozumbayev, Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan expressed his keenness to work with India towards deepening the bilateral relations
. He invited Indian investments in various sectors particularly in the hydrocarbon sector, infrastructure, peaceful use of nuclear energy, co-production of films, cooperation in food processing and Information Technology.
Both sides exchanged lists containing priority export items.
The India-Kazakhstan Inter-governmental Commission established in 1993 is the apex bilateral institutional mechanism for developing trade, economic, scientific, technical, industrial and cultural cooperation between the two countries. The Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas on the Indian side and Minister of Energy on the Kazakh side are the Co-Chairs of the Commission.
The 13th IGC meeting aims to follow up on the agenda set between India and Kazakhstan during the two visits of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to Kazakhstan in July 2015 and June 2017.
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