A diplomatic mission of Kazakhstan has opened in Serbia, the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan has announced. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Alexey Volkov participated in the opening of the mission during his working visit to Serbia from June 3–5. The key event of the visit was the official opening of the permanent Embassy of Kazakhstan in Belgrade and the official inauguration of Honorary Consul of Kazakhstan in Serbia Milanka Karic. In Belgrade Volkov met with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and other senior officials of the country for consultations on bilateral cooperation and international issues.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) low-enriched uranium fuel bank being established in Kazakhstan will be supplied with nuclear fuel beginning in 2017. The logistics, including a transport agreement to bring the material through Russia, are currently being negotiated, said Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Atomic and Energy Supervision of the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan Timur Zhantikin on June 1 in Astana. The Board of Governors of IAEA will meet in Vienna the week of June 8 and will consider the draft transit agreement and the draft agreement with the government of Kazakhstan. If approved, the process of ratification and finalisation will take approximately two years, he said. Kazakhstan proposed itself as the site of an international fuel bank in 2009. The bank is expected to be established at Kazakhstan’s Ulba Metallurgical Plant (UMP) in Ust-Kamenogorsk.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on June 3 released new predictions for lower global growth this year due to weak investment, Big News Network reports. The OECD Economic Outlook report anticipates 3.1 percent global growth this year and 3.8 percent in 2016, down from earlier forecasts of 3.6 percent and 3.9 percent. The change resulted from unexpected weakness in the first quarter of 2015, the OECD said. In the region, China’s growth was scaled down from 6.8 percent in the previous forecast to 6.7 percent on June 3. Russia is expected to reach low but positive growth by 2016.
The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) discussed trade and customs cooperation at its most recent meeting and approved the modification of some EEC Board decisions on the structure and formats of electronic copies of customs documents. The changes will help with the electronic declaration of goods, an EEC press release explained. In addition, the adopted changes will complete the structural elements of the newly adopted classifiers of road vehicle brands and types of vehicles of international transportation. The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) is a permanent supranational regulatory body of the Eurasian Economic Union. Currently, the EEC includes representatives of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. The Commission’s decisions are obligatory for execution on the territory of the EEU member states.
Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov and Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong are leading the respective delegations of Almaty and Beijing to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Candidate City Briefing starting on June 9, the Inside the Games website reports. The briefing is a key step in the race for the Olympic Games and will give the cities in competition a chance to present themselves to voting IOC members and International Federations ahead of the decisive IOC Session at the end of next month in Kuala Lumpur. Each city will have 45 minutes to present their plans at the Olympic Museum here, followed by 45 minutes of questions. Individual follow up meetings with IOC members will take place the next day. Beijing and Almaty have sent delegations of several hundred people. Kazakhstan’s delegation includes Almaty Mayor Akhmetzhan Yessimov, Culture and Sports Minister Arystanbek Mukhamediuly, and National Olympic Committee of Kazakhstan President Temirkhan Dosmukhambetov and Secretary General Timur Dossymbetov.
