The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan hosted the final meeting of the Public Council under the MFA in the year 2023, El.kz cites MFA.
The meeting reviewed the results of the work of the Foreign Ministry in 2023 and approved the work plan of the Public Council in 2024. Chair of the Council – Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Security of the Mazhilis of Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan Aigul Kuspan and members of the Council, including representatives of civil society, scientific and human rights organizations attended the event.
In his report, Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vassilenko noted that the priorities of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy were and remain focused on ensuring security and stability in the region, enhancing Kazakhstan’s role in regional and global politics, protecting and safeguarding national interests abroad. Kazakhstan will continue advocating for steadfast compliance with the UN Charter, international law and the principles of equality and democracy in international relations. He also mentioned the active work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in strengthening trade and economic, investment, cultural and humanitarian ties with foreign countries, as well as tourism attractiveness of the country within the framework of expanding the international legal framework on mutual exemption from visa requirements. It should be noted that the list of visa-free countries has increased to 83 states for various types of passports, including 30 for national passports.
Special attention in the report was given to the work of the Consular Service, which directly interacts with the citizens of Kazakhstan. Due to natural disasters in Turkey and the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East in 2023, active work has been carried out to evacuate our citizens. As a result of intergovernmental efforts, 400 citizens together with their family members were safely evacuated and transferred to Kazakhstan.
The Deputy Minister also informed the participants that the embassies of Kazakhstan abroad have reviewed more than 12,000 appeals, highlighting the effective work of diplomats related to 99.3% of positive decisions on the received appeals. Deputy Minister Vassilenko proposed to the members of the Public Council to conduct next year a public monitoring of the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan on reviewing citizens’ appeals.
During the discussion of the results of the work of the Council’s Committees on foreign economic activities, image promotion and human dimension, committee chairs reported on their activities over the past year and outlined their work plans for the next year.
During the discussion there was a productive exchange of views on further work of the Public Council. The members of the Council expressed their gratitude to the Ministry’s leadership for the work accomplished and welcomed MFA’s interest in close co-operation with the Public Council to improve the quality and efficiency of its work.