The Kazakhstan and US Technology Agreement

The Republic of Kazakhstan recently entered into a major science and technology cooperation agreement with the US. The sealed agreement aims to create joint technological initiatives across various fields. This agreement was the first accord sealed by the US with a former Soviet Union satellite state in the central Asian region.

According to Kazakhstan’s deputy foreign minister Kairat Umarov, the country’s agreement with the United States marks an important milestone in their strong bilateral relationship. This technology agreement also paves the way for more institutions to carry on more joint researches, as well as several science and technology development initiatives.

The Science and Technology Cooperation agreement was signed by the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert O. Blake, and the Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister, Kairat Umarov. The signing was done at the Willard International Hotel in Washington, DC.

This agreement spawns numerous opportunities for both countries to take part in several activities involving energy, biotechnology, health, seismic research, water resource management, information technology engineering and the environment.

The agreement serves as a comprehensive and formal partnership to both countries, which have been working together on several scientific and various other types of activities since 1991. The negotiations to build a bilateral cooperation agreement were only brought to mind in 2003.

The recently sealed Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement is the 51st agreement of its kind. The partnership of the two countries allows the creation of a structure that will entail US and Kazakh government agencies, institutes, ministries, research centers and universities to work hand-in-hand in developing scientific and technological efforts. As part of what both countries have agreed upon, cooperative activities are exempted from fees, taxation and customs duties.

According to the Kazakh deputy foreign minister, Kairat Umarov, the agreement is another milestone in the two countries’ strong bilateral relationship. It is the best opportunity for the governments and institutions to take up activities involving science, technology development and research.