President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev says his country remains committed to strengthening bilateral relations with Zambia.
President Tokayev made the remarks when he received Letters of Credence from Zambia’s Ambassador to Kazakhstan, on a non-residential basis, Mr Shadreck Luwita at the Akorda Presidential Palace in the capital Nur-Sultan.
President Tokayev who congratulated Mr Luwita on the official start of his diplomatic mission in Kazakhstan, wished him success in further strengthening his country’s bilateral relations with Zambia.
President Tokayev said that despite the distance in geographical location for some countries, promotion of friendly bilateral ties is cardinal in international relations because the world is now a global village.
President Tokayev also expressed his country’s commitment towards the development of international cooperation in order to achieve positive results for both parties.
He said Kazakhstan stands ready and determined to establish close bilateral relations with Zambia within the framework of international organization as well as the United Nations mechanism.
And Ambassador Luwita said Zambia has continued to enjoy very cordial bilateral relations with Kazakhstan since it gained independence in 1991.
Ambassador Luwita noted that in 2017, when Kazakhstan bid to ascend to the United Nations Security Council as non-permanent member, Zambia supported its bid.
“You may equally wish to know that the key objective of Kazakhstan foreign policy is similar to that of Zambia’s foreign policy in that one of the key drivers is economic diplomacy,” Ambassador. “It is in this regard that the Government of Kazakhstan has embarked on a serious industrialization programme just like Zambia,” he said
Mr Luwita, who is also Zambia’s envoy to Russia, said Zambia has embarked on the diversification of the economy by encompassing among other sectors agriculture, manufacturing and tourism.
He said with Zambia’s quest to industrialize, he will during his tour of duty encourage bilateral exchanges of technocrats for benchmarking from Zambia into Kazakhstan to enable them draw lessons from that country’s implementation of its industrialization programme.
