On October 29, as part of the first official visit of the President of Finland Alexander Stubb to Kazakhstan, an expert luncheon was held with the participation of the Finnish leader and representatives of the domestic expert community. The event was organized by Maqsut Narikbayev University in cooperation with the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan (KazISS) and took place on the university campus.
The Finnish delegation was headed by President of Finland Alexander Stubb. The meeting was also attended by Member of Parliament and Chair of the Finland–Kazakhstan Friendship Group Ville Skinnari, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Finland to Kazakhstan Janne Heiskanen, Deputy Director General of the Department for Asia and Oceania of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland Mikko Kivikoski, Chief Programme Officer of the “Crisis Management Initiative” Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation Oskari Eronen, and Director of the Centre for Peace Mediation Ville Brummer.
From the Kazakhstani side, the participants included Director of KazISS under the President of Kazakhstan Zhandos Shaimardanov, Chief Research Fellow of KazISS Sanat Kushkumbayev, Chairman of the Board of the Institute of Foreign Policy Studies under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Bolat Nurgaliyev, Deputy Chair of the Board for Science, Innovation and Artificial Intelligence at Maqsut Narikbayev University Sergey Pen, Assistant Professor at Nazarbayev University Zhanibek Arynov, and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to Finland Azamat Abdraimov.
During the meeting, participants discussed Kazakhstan’s foreign policy agenda amid global turbulence, current issues of regional and international security, the current state and prospects of regional cooperation among Central Asian states, as well as the interaction of Kazakhstan and regional countries with Russia, China, the United States, the European Union, Turkey, and the South Caucasus nations.
The parties emphasized the importance of strengthening a trust-based dialogue between Kazakhstan and Finland, promoting economic cooperation, and developing ties between the expert communities of the two countries.
It should be noted that on the eve of the event, in Akorda, in the presence of the presidents of both countries, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the “Crisis Management Initiative” Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation.
KazISS under the President of Kazakhstan expresses its gratitude to Maqsut Narikbayev University for the highest level of organization and its contribution to fostering international expert dialogue.
