KAZAKHSTAN - USA: STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

The United States of America (USA) is one of the first states to recognize the independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan. So, on December 17, 1991, the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan - Elbassy N.Nazarbayev and US Secretary of State James Baker met in Almaty, and on December 26 of the same year, US President George H. W. Bush sent a personal message to Elbassy on recognizing the independence and establishing diplomatic relations.

In May 1992, Nursultan Abishevich made his first official visit to the United States, during which he and President George H. W. Bush signed a Memorandum of Understanding, an Agreement on the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investments, an Agreement on Trade Relations, a Joint Statement on the Conclusion of a Convention on the Avoidance of Double taxation.

On October 30, 1992, the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the United States was opened, which allowed the partnership relations of the two countries to reach a new level.

The Embassy is part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan and represents the interests of Kazakhstan in the United States.

The first Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United States was Kazakhstan statesman Alim Dzhanburshin (1992-1994). In different years, this high post was held by Tuleutai Suleimenov (1994-1996), Bolat Nurgaliev (1996-2000), Kanat Saudabayev (2000-2007), Yerlan Idrisov (2007-2013), Kairat Umarov ( 2013-2017), and since 2017, Yerzhan Kazykhanov has been the Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United States.

Security cooperation issues were of particular importance in the partnership between the two countries. The United States noted N.Nazarbayev’s decision to renounce nuclear weapons and join the Treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT). In February 1994, N. Nazarbayev met with B. Clinton in Washington, where the parties signed a basic document - the Charter on the democratic partnership between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the United States of America.

At that time, Kazakhstan was the only country in Central Asia that had a partnership with a great power.

The signed document defined the development of long-term cooperation in such areas as politics, defense, economy, ecology, science and technology. Also during this visit, the President of the United States, as one of the depositaries of the Treaty, handed over a copy of the instrument of ratification of the NPT.

In December 1999, Elbassy made another official visit to the United States, during which a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the government of the United States, on Cooperation on consular issues, and a number of other documents. At the same time, the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan - Elbassy N. Nazarbayev was awarded the Diploma "For Outstanding Contribution to the Promotion of Democracy" by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.

In 2006, US Vice President R. Cheney paid an official visit to Astana (now Nur-Sultan). During the meeting, an Executive agreement was signed between the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the US Department of Energy on cooperation in preventing the illegal movement of nuclear materials and other documents.

In general, after Kazakhstan gained independence, almost all US Secretaries of State paid official visits to the country (J. Baker in 1991, W. Christopher in 1993, M. Albright in 2000, C. Powell in 2001, K. Rice in 2005, H. Clinton in 2010, J. Kerry in 2015). All meetings were held with the participation of Nursultan Abishevich, where issues of a global scale on the international agenda were discussed. 

To date, Kazakhstan - American cooperation is determined by the agreements reached following the official visit of the President of Kazakhstan to the United States (January 15-18, 2018), which became an important milestone in the development of strategic partnership and gave a fresh impetus to the further development of full-fledged and wide interaction between Nur-Sultan and Washington.

Following the meeting at the White House, the heads of the two states adopted a joint statement "Kazakhstan and the United States: expanded strategic partnership in the XXI century".

It is worth noting that the United States is the largest foreign investor in the Republic of Kazakhstan, which allows our country to strengthen its position in international relations.

As a result of close cooperation between the United States and the Republic of Kazakhstan, the bilateral trade turnover between our countries for 9 months of 2019 amounted to $1.65 billion (for 9 months of 2018 – $1.66 billion).

Over 29 years of diplomatic relations, a solid treaty and legal framework has been created, which contributes to the strengthening of strategic partnership in all major areas. In total, more than 70 interstate, intergovernmental and interdepartmental agreements have been signed. Also, work continues on expanding contractual and legal relations.

On May 5, 2018, the Air Navigation Charges Agreement entered into force, which will allow official United States delegations to travel to Kazakhstan, i.e. through the United States Congress using USAF aircraft.

On May 3, 2019, the Agreement on consular privileges and immunities was signed.

As part of the implementation of the agreements reached by Elbassy, on August 20, 2019, a General Security of Information Agreement (GSOIA) was signed.

In addition, on January 5, 2020, the Open Sky Agreement was signed.