Astana [Kazakhstan], August 4 : India and Kazakhstan on Thursday discussed bilateral, regional issues at the fourth Security Dialogue held in Astana
The two countries also discussed the situation in Afghanistan and international issues of mutual concern, according to an official release.
The Indian delegation was led by Deputy National Security Advisor Vikram Misri and the Kazakhstan side was led by Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of Kazakhstan Nurzhan Kajiakbarov.
The two sides agreed on steps to be taken to further enhance bilateral security cooperation between the relevant organizations, including in the fields of counter-terrorism, combating radicalization, narcotics control, cyber security, connectivity and defence cooperation, as per the official release.
During the visit, Misri called on Aide to the President - Secretary of the Security Council of Kazakhstan Gizat Nurdauletov and held discussions with Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Kanat Tumysh.
The Indian delegation also visited facilities of interest, considering the bilateral strategic relationship between the two countries.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Kanat Tumysh recently expressed optimism over India's Presidency of G20 and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) this year, said that India's presidency will result in good outcomes, especially at a time when the world is facing a volatile and turbulent situation.
"We as a country are inspired by the leadership of India in G20 and SCO. We are also proceeding by the understanding that the motto of the Indian G20 Presidency is very important in each and every country on our planet especially in this volatile and turbulent situation," Kanat Tumysh said.
In an interview with ANI, he said, "We congratulate India on its SCO presidency, and it's very important to underline that it is conducted at a time of great changes to the world economy, especially like the conflicts in our planet, trade war and sanction war. But I do believe that it will result in a very good outcome."
Hailing India's innovation and Startup initiatives, Kanat Tumysh stated that such initiatives will create additional momentum and favourable conditions if India's ideas for startup and innovation are utilized.
"Initiative of India to create a working group on innovation and startup is also a very important idea. We fully support this idea. Because it is very important to create opportunities for our youth. We do believe the need to utilise this idea in the sectors such as Energy cooperation, environment cooperation which will be the priorities of Kazakhstan in its SCO presidency," Tumysh said.
"Both initiative of India and Kazakhstan will create additional momentum and will create favourable conditions if we utilise India's ideas for startup and innovation," he added.
On the bilateral trade relationship between India and Kazakhstan, the minister stressed the positive dynamics of bilateral trade turnover, which by the end of 2022 amounted to USD 2.4 billion, which is 16.67 per cent higher than in the previous year.
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