Swiss-Kazakh diplomatic ties boosted
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis and his counterpart from Kazakhstan, Mukhtar Tileuberdi, have signed accords on diplomatic staff.
They also discussed bilateral issues, including long-standing cooperation in their common voting constituencies of the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund IMF).
The talks in the Swiss capital Bern on Monday also covered the situation in Afghanistan and its consequences for other countries in central Asia, according to a foreign ministry statementExternal link.
Cassis thanked Kazakhstan for making its airspace available for evacuation flights from Kabul to Tashkent in Uzbekistan last month.
The two bilateral agreements between Switzerland and Kazakhstan abolish visas for holders of diplomatic passports and regulate employment for people accompanying members of diplomatic missions, consular posts and permanent missions.
Switzerland recognized Kazakhstan in 1991 after the demise of the Soviet Union and opened a consulate in the capital, Almaty, three years later.
A Swiss embassy opened in the new capital of Nur Sultan in 2009.
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