ASTANA – Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vassilenko reaffirmed Kazakhstan’s support for ethnic Germans at the 21st meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) on Ethnic Germans in Kazakhstan on April 9 in Berlin, reported the Kazakh Foreign Ministry’s press service.
Roman Vassilenko and Natalie Pawlik. Photo credit: gov.kz
The session, co-chaired by Germany’s Federal Government Commissioner for Ethnic German Resettlers and National Minorities, Bundestag Member Natalie Pawlik, also focused on strengthening cultural and humanitarian cooperation between the countries.
The areas discussed were education, culture, science, youth policies, German language study, archival work, facilitation of business contacts, and visa liberalization. The meeting reviewed joint projects aimed at preserving the national identity of Germans in Kazakhstan.
The participants welcomed the 2024 opening of the Centre for German Language and Culture at the Eurasian National University and the launch of a branch of Germany’s Anhalt University of Applied Sciences at the Almaty University of Power Engineering and Telecommunications.
They also praised the contributions of institutions such as the Kazakh-German Center in Astana, the Kazakh-German University in Almaty, the Kazakh-German Institute of Sustainable Engineering in Aktau, and the National Academic German Drama Theatre.
“Just as the Kazakh land has traditionally connected the West and the East, so the ethnic Germans in Kazakhstan and former citizens of our country in Germany have today created a “living bridge” between Kazakhstan and Germany and are key to prospective development of Kazakh-German relations,” said Vassilenko.
He stressed that ensuring favourable conditions for the coexistence of various people in a common socio-cultural space remains a priority for Kazakhstan, highlighting the role of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, which marks its 30th anniversary this year and holds its 34th session.
Pawlik affirmed Germany’s continued support for ethnic Germans in Kazakhstan, emphasizing their important role in further deepening bilateral relations.
The meeting concluded with the signing a Communiqué outlining further measures to ensure comprehensive support for ethnic Germans in Kazakhstan.
During his visit to Berlin, Vassilenko also discussed bilateral cooperation and key global and regional issues with Bundestag Member Stefan Rouenhoff and Konrad Arz von Straussenburg, the director for Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Caucasus at the German Foreign Ministry.
The IGC was established under a 1996 bilateral agreement to support Kazakh citizens of German nationality. Today, Kazakhstan is home to 226,000 ethnic Germans, while nearly one million German resettlers from Kazakhstan live in Germany.
