ASTANA – Kazakh and German counterparts have reached agreements on new projects to enhance agricultural cooperation and ensure efficient irrigation and water conservation during Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev’s working visit to Germany.
Kanat Bozumbayev and Susanne Buiter. Photo credit: Prime Minister’s press service.
At the meeting with Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Education and Research Jens Brandenburg, the sides discussed the possibility of joint training for professional staff in the water sector. The German side expressed willingness to choose a university for future partnership with the new Kazakh National University of Water Management and Irrigation in Taraz, reported the Prime Minister’s press service on Aug. 23.
Bozumbayev and Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture Claudia Müller considered ways to deliver Kazakh agro-industrial and organic products to the German market. Today, Germany is one of Kazakhstan’s key agricultural partners. The parties reached an agreement on the concept of the Regional Centre for Sustainable Agriculture in Central Asia.
At the meeting with Managing Director of the German Water Partnership (GWP) Boris Greifeneder, the sides agreed to develop a draft Global Water Partnership Agreement between Kazakhstan and Germany.
GWP is a network of the international water industry in Germany, bringing together more than 300 companies in the water sector. Collaboration with GWP is supposed to be an important step toward sustainable and effective water management, allowing for the implementation of proven innovative technologies.
“The consequences of recent floods, unprecedented in their intensity over the past 80 years, have pointed to the need for innovative approaches to combat and prevent similar disasters in the future. We are currently piloting the German digital flood forecasting solution Talsim with the assistance of the United Nations Development Program. We are also ready to study the German experience in dealing with floods and mitigation programs,” said Bozumbayev at the panel discussion, during which dozens of German companies expressed their desire to cooperate with Kazakhstan.
During the talks with the Head of the National and International Economic Policy at Federal Chancellery Holger Fabig, the sides exchanged views on industrial and raw materials cooperation and joint development of mineral resources.
Bozumbayev discussed the study of underground water resources in Kazakhstan with Scientific Director of the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) Susanne Buiter. Today, the Kazhydromet National Hydrometeorological Service cooperates with the GFZ within the framework of the Berlin Process and the Green Central Asia initiative.
Following the working visit, delegations from both countries signed four agreements on cooperation.
