Kazakhstan is ready to collaborate with Romania in several fields, including on energy projects, the country’s president Nursultan Nazarbayev said yesterday after talks in Astana with his Romanian counterpart Traian Basescu. The Kazakh leader added that Romanian companies are welcome to take part in his country’s industrial development.

Nazarbayev said talks with Basescu focused on economic, political cooperation and on regional issues. “The fact this dialogue is so intense, on presidential level, helps contacts between businesspeople,” Nazarbayev added. He underlined that Romania is Kazakhstan’s main partner in central and Eastern Europe, reminding those present that bilateral trade amounted to USD 800 M last year, in spite of the economic crisis. There are also 35 joint Romanian-Kazakh enterprises working in fields such as oil, gas, construction and transports, he said.

In turn, President Basescu congratulated Kazakhstan for currently holding the presidency of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). “We have the experience of such a presidency since 2001 and I assure you that it was a year in which Romania had the chance to have a strong role on international level and this is what I wish to you as well,” he said.

Before leaving for Kazakhstan, President Basescu said one of the main objectives of his visit is to attract Astana into Europe oil and gas transit route projects. “As regards bilateral economic cooperation, especially as regards energy, we are considering the possibility of attracting Kazakhstan into the trilateral Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania project on oil transit and gas transit routes to Europe,” Basescu said in a brief press statement on Henri Coanda International Airport.

The president explained that this move would require Kazakhstan to join the Pan-European Oil Pipeline (PEOP) project, but also a separate project for the development of two liquefied gas terminals in Georgia and Constanta.

The head of state added that his main objectives during the visit include the consolidation of the countries’ bilateral cooperation framework and the development of closer economic ties. During the visit, the two countries would sign agreements on economic collaboration, justice cooperation, mutual investment protection, tourism and statistics collaboration, Basescu said.

In Astana, Basescu was welcomed by his counterpart, Nazarbayev, at the president’s palace, ‘Akorda,’ according to Agerpres reports. The two heads of state had a private conversation and were scheduled to hold a joint press conference later on.

Besides talks with Nazarbayev, Basescu and the Romanian delegation were also scheduled to meet with Kazakhstan’s official delegation and sign a series of joint documents. The head of state’s delegation includes Economy Minister Adriean Videanu, Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi and Defence Minister Gabriel Oprea.

On the second day of his visit today, Basescu will meet the head of Parliament, U.B. Mukhamedjanov, after which he will make a brief visit to the Public Administration Academy with the Kazakhstan Presidency and a meeting with the State Academy’s students and teachers.

The head of state is also scheduled to visit the First President’s Museum and to lay a wreath of flowers at a monument honouring Kazakh soldiers. Later in the afternoon, he will go to Karaganda, where he will visit the Spassk Memorial Complex, in memory of Romanian prisoners and victims of communist repression. The president is also scheduled to meet members of the Romanian community in Kazakhstan.