Vietnam has signed seven cooperation agreements with Kazakhstan in its capital, Astana, on September 15, witnessed by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his Kazakh counterpart, Karim Masimov.

The cooperative documents included inter-governmental agreements on investment promotion and protection, education and training, as well as travel by Vietnamese and Kazakh citizens within each others’ country.

Also signed were a strategic cooperation agreement between the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and Kazakhstan’s KazMunaiGaz Company, a memorandum of understanding between the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Kazakh Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and an agreement between the two countries’ Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

During their talks held earlier, PM Dung and his Kazakh counterpart exchanged the two countries’ experiences in shifting to a market-oriented economy and boosting sustainable development as well as measures to cope with the negative impacts of the global economic crisis.

PM Dung highly valued Kazakhstan’s role and position in the region and the world, putting forth many important initiatives in nuclear disarmament and consolidating the Commonwealth of Independent States (SNG), as well as building confidence and strengthening cooperation in Asia .

The Kazakh PM said he admired Vietnam ’s achievements in renewal and integration along with its maintenance of socio-political stability and high economic growth amidst the on-going financial turmoil.

The two sides expressed pleasure at their cooperation and mutual assistance at regional and international forums over the past time and agreed that this is an important coordination channel that should be further promoted in the coming time.

Vietnam ’s assumption of the ASEAN Chair and Kazakhstan’s role as the Chair of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2010 are favourable conditions for both sides to bolster joint efforts and mutual assistance as well as expand their ties with other regional countries.

PM Dung informed the host of Vietnam’s decision to raise the level of its participation in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia (CICA) from an observer to that of an official member.

He appreciated Kazakhstan’s efforts in the framework of the conference, contributing to consolidating peace and stability in the region and the world at large.

The two sides agreed to soon exchange documents that recognise each other as market-oriented economies and support each other’s candidacy for membership in the UNESCO Executive Council at the elections to be held in Paris in October 2009 during the 35th General Conference of the organisation.

The two PMs agreed to increase the exchange of high-ranking delegations in order to strengthen mutual understanding and reach a consensus on orientations and measures to boost bilateral ties.

However, they noted that the economic and trade cooperation between Vietnam and Kazakhstan is still modest and has yet to match its potential. In this spirit, the two sides agreed on measures to boost bilateral ties in economics, trade and investment and pledged to create favourable conditions for their businesses to operate in each other’s territory.

They also agreed to give priority to oil and gas cooperation, considering it a long-term strategic cooperation orientation.

The two sides pledged to implement measures to strengthen information exchange on each country’s economic situation and development policies, as well as improve the effectiveness of activities of the two countries’ inter-governmental committees.

They also agreed to pay attention to beefing up cooperation in science and technology, culture, education and training, tourism and labour./.