India, Kazakhstan hold 7th round of Foreign Office Consultations, review bilateral cooperation
Nov 17, 2020
New Delhi [India], November 17 : India and Kazakhstan on Tuesday held the seventh round of Foreign Office Consultations (FoC) via digital video-conference and reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral cooperation within the framework of their Strategic Partnership, the Ministry of External Affairs Ministry (MEA) said.
The Indian side was led by Vikas Swarup, Secretary (West) and the Kazakh side was led by Shakhrat Nuryshev, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, MEA said in a statement.
"During the consultations, the two sides reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral cooperation within the framework of their Strategic Partnership. The consultations covered political, economic and commercial, energy, defence, space, consular and cultural matters. They also shared views and experiences on combating the COVID-19 pandemic," MEA said.
The statement said that the two sides also exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest and agreed to enhance cooperation in the multilateral arena, including during the forthcoming stint of India in the UN Security Council for the period 2021-22.
As announced by the External Affairs Minister during the recent India-Central Asia Dialogue, an MoU on "Indian Grant Assistance for Implementation of High Impact Community Development Projects in Kazakhstan" was signed between both sides coinciding with the FoC.
During the talks, both sides agreed to hold the next consultations in a physical format at a mutually convenient date.
