WNAM REPORT: President of the Republic of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan paid an official visit to Kazakhstan. The day before, a meeting of the heads of state of Kazakhstan and Armenia took place: during the talks, the interlocutors discussed prospects for strengthening cooperation in the trade and economic, transport and logistics, agricultural, financial, cultural and humanitarian spheres, as well as in the field of digitalization.
On October 15 and 16, Days of Armenian Culture in Kazakhstan were also held in Astana. In an interview with Kazinform News Agency, Vahagn Khachaturyan spoke in more detail about the development of bilateral relations with Kazakhstan and promising opportunities for cooperation and shared his opinion on the modern challenges facing our countries.
Mr. President, this September marked the 25th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Kazakhstan and Armenia. How do you assess the relationship between our countries, and what are their prospects?
25 years ago, the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Kazakhstan and Armenia was signed, where the main priorities of our cooperation were outlined. I can say that it has yielded results, and now Kazakhstan and Armenia are friendly countries that have long-standing friendly relations and now continue to cooperate in all spheres of life of our countries and our peoples. This concerns the economy, culture, new technologies, politics in bilateral and multilateral relations.
It is very important that the leaders of the countries are now continuing our centuries-old friendly relations and using them for the development of our countries, helping each other and taking into account the difficulties that we are now experiencing, especially Armenia. We need this friendship, and we are grateful to Mr. President, the respected Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and the government of Kazakhstan for the assistance they are providing us in this situation. I mean not only economic relations, but also political ones. For example, this year we were given the opportunity to organize a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Almaty, where they were able to discuss the issues of the Peace Agreement that have not yet been resolved. During the official meeting with Mr. Tokayev, we discussed this situation. Kazakhstan is ready to provide its platform if necessary.
In April of this year, the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev paid his first official visit to Armenia. What agreements and plans are currently being implemented?
This visit can be called historic, because before this, the last time the President of Kazakhstan was on an official visit was in 2001. And in this sense, it turns out that there was no official visit for 23 years, although there were many opportunities for the leaders of the two countries to meet in Yerevan in different formats. But for the first time since 2001, this meeting took place. Numerous documents were signed, which are now starting to work, because after this, the relevant commissions, the intergovernmental commission between Armenia and Kazakhstan and government structures began to work intensively, the goal of which is to further deepen our relations, to give our businesses the opportunity to know more about each other.
This year, two business forums have already taken place in Kazakhstan and Armenia. We need to get to know each other better and show each other’s capabilities to our businesses, show our countries to citizens. I am sure that Kazakhstan has a huge reserve of opportunities, and we, Armenia as a country, have not yet used them on the scale that can be imagined. The same applies to Armenia – although our economy is much smaller than the economy of Kazakhstan, there are still areas in which we can also participate in the development of the economy of Kazakhstan, among other things. We discussed this with the esteemed Mr. Tokayev, clarified several specific issues that need to be addressed. For example, the problem of logistics – connecting the Middle Corridor with the Republic of Armenia, or rather, with our region. These will be new opportunities: goods will go by land through Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and then further east to China and back. Corresponding tasks were given to government representatives, and this work is currently underway.
As you have already mentioned, a Kazakh-Armenian business forum was held this year. It is also known that more than 100 companies with Kazakh capital are registered in Armenia. Trade turnover between our countries increased by 23% last year compared to 2022. How can all this affect the development of mutually beneficial economic ties between our countries? To what figures, in your opinion, can trade turnover grow in the future?
I cannot say in numerical form how much there will be, but I can say that this figure will increase, because the opportunities are huge. Now we just need to find new methods of using these opportunities, for example, using logistics, sea ports of Kazakhstan, and in this case we will have new opportunities for developing economic relations. Of course, we must first help business, and then, I am sure, our business representatives themselves will be able to find ways to develop the economy that will satisfy both sides. The job of the leaders of countries and governments is to provide an opportunity and create conditions for the development of business and other areas. We are doing this now.
I carefully read Mr. Tokayev’s Address of September 2 this year, the tasks he set for the country and the government. It turns out that we have the same tasks and the same problems. We talked about this too. We are now in almost the same situation – this is the transformation of the political and economic systems of our countries. And in this transformation, we proceed from the fact that we are democratic countries, we are free countries, we are independent countries. And based on this, we must find the best option for economic development, increasing the well-being of our people, our citizens. For example, Kazakhstan is going to write a new Tax Code, we are going to too. Kazakhstan is going to write a new Water Code, we are too. Kazakhstan has problems with the shadow economy, we also have such problems, that is, there are many similar things.
In the Majilis, we talked about helping each other in the legislative sphere, because our parliamentarians are now working very closely together, friendly groups have been created in the Majilis and the National Assembly of Armenia. Our delegation included a representative, the head of the Armenia-Kazakhstan friendly group. This is joint work, because in legislative creativity there is no need to invent anything if there are good laws in some country. Maybe what we want to do already exists in Kazakhstan. Maybe what they want to do in Kazakhstan exists in Armenia. That is, this is everyday creative work in a sense. And I am sure that both my visit and the meeting of our Prime Minister N. Pashinyan and Mr. Tokayev provide an opportunity to create conditions for government structures to act freely in order to help the development of both countries and relations between our countries.
How is cooperation between Kazakhstan and Armenia developing within the framework of Eurasian integration?
These are special relations, because this year marked the 10th anniversary of the formation of the Eurasian Economic Union. And somehow, we need to generalize and analyze the achievements and failures that exist in this structure. We work closely with representatives of all the EurAsEC countries, especially with our Kazakh colleagues, because there are issues that cannot be resolved alone. Therefore, we cooperate very closely, and based on the economic figures that exist, I can say that the Eurasian Economic Union really works. But the emphasis, as was decided, or rather predicted when the Eurasian Economic Union was created, is on economic relations. And that’s it. I know that Kazakhstan, based only on this position, is ready to deepen relations within the EurAsEC, because sometimes some economic problems are not resolved due to the emergence of political issues.
We believe that there should be no politics in the Eurasian Economic Union, there should only be economics. Although this does not happen in life, economics and politics are closely connected, and no one knows what influences each other more: politics on economics or vice versa. But we still proceed from the fact that we are independent countries, and we decide our own political issues and political ideology. So, we try not to interfere with each other in this matter, but on the contrary, to work together in the structures of the Eurasian Economic Union and help each other in the development of the economic sphere.
In general, which area of relations between Kazakhstan and Armenia is the most important for you?
The high-tech side of the economy is a priority for us. Kazakhstan is currently making huge investments in IT and high technologies. Armenia is also developing at a very high rate — 20-25% of development in this area per year. I believe that this is a very important area of development in the economies of our countries, and we can cooperate in it. I stayed here today because I want to see your new opportunities and new technologies in Astana HUB and Fintech. We are interested in creating new structures in this area, especially since we have achievements this year, for example, a supercomputer, a new data center, which has already opened. An engineering city is being built; the first company has already opened in it. The infrastructure is also working. That is, we are also developing, investing in this area, and I know that Kazakhstan is working hard in this area.
One of the important areas is education. And we are very interested in the achievements that you have. Our minister is here and today he will visit several schools and see how everything is arranged here, because we realize that we must invest a lot of money in education. The future of our countries depends on the development of education, this is the policy of both Kazakhstan and Armenia. I see that you have success in this area, and we want to see how you have done it. Compared to 2018, our budget expenditures on the education system have doubled. This is a lot of money for us, we are trying to invest even more. Basically, this concerns the construction of new schools or 100% reconstruction of all old schools. Yesterday I spoke with the esteemed Mr. Tokayev, he told us about your experience, and we have the same idea, that is, what is built for schools should be the most perfect, the newest. Nothing old should remain in the school, from chairs to television capabilities that are available in this system.
New opportunities will also appear in the energy sector, because after the referendum, Kazakhstan decided to build a new nuclear power plant, and in Armenia, the nuclear power plant has been operating since the 70s and is still operating, we are also going to build a new nuclear power plant. So, in this area, we also have a new opportunity to discuss and look. Nuclear power is a high-tech industry that we, a small country, and countries like Kazakhstan need. Nuclear power is very important for solving energy problems in the future. I congratulated President Tokayev on the results of the referendum. Here in Kazakhstan, this is a sensitive issue, I understand, this is Semipalatinsk. And in Yerevan, there is a little sensitivity: there was an earthquake, after which the nuclear power plant stopped, and then in 1995, it was rebooted. I appreciated the work done by the President, and the entire government, and the deputies, who gave the people the opportunity to evaluate whether they need a nuclear power plant. And it turned out that the people gave a mandate for construction, and this is very important for economic development.
What are the main results of your visit to Astana? What agreements were reached?
We have once again confirmed our readiness to fulfill the agreements made in April. The cultural events that we held together, the Days of Armenian Culture in Kazakhstan, are very important. We agreed that next year there will be a decade of Kazakh culture in Armenia, and this is also very important. Sometimes it seems that the most important thing is the economic and pressing problems of the population, but I am sure that cultural events and what we have in common, customs and culture, are important. And we need to give our peoples the opportunity to get acquainted with this culture and customs. Because the level of our relations depends on how well we know each other. And I am sure that yesterday’s concert, which was here in Astana (a concert on the occasion of the opening of the Days of Armenian Culture at the Kazakh Music and Drama Theater named after K. Kuanyshbayev — editor’s note), also gave the Kazakhstani people an opportunity to learn more about what Armenia and Armenian music are. We will also have a theatrical production. I know that there is a theatrical boom in Kazakhstan, and we have one too. I saw a very beautiful theatre in your country, we also recently built a modern theatre, and representatives of this theatre will present their production tomorrow, which will help in developing our cultural ties. A corresponding document was also signed between the ministers of our cultures on further cooperation.
Mr. President, thank you for the interview.
Thank you, and I would like to say once again that our peoples have centuries-old friendly relations. I repeat that Kazakhstan is a friendly, important and reliable partner for us, and we never forget this.
