OREANDA-NEWS. On February 03, 2009 Berlin hosted a number of events to launch a Year of Kazakhstan in Germany. Among those in attendance were Heads of two nations, reported the Official website http://en.government.kz.

September 2-4, 2008 in the course of the state visit of Germany’s Bundespresident Horst Kohler to Kazakhstan, the two Heads had agreed on the Year of Kazakhstan in Germany in 2009 and the Year of Germany in Kazakhstan in 2010.

The Kazakhstan’s Committee in charge of handling the Year of Kazakhstan in Germany throughout 2009 is chaired by Minister of Economy and Budget Planning Mr. Bakhyt Sultanov who also co-chairs the Intergovernmental Kazakh-German Working Group on Economic Cooperation.

The Program includes 40 events, with 17 of them being focused on economic issues.

To inaugurate the Year of Kazakhstan, February 3 Berlin hosted a Kazakh-German economic forum with President N. Nazarbayev in attendance.

The forum was also attended by Kazakhstan’s Minister of Economy and Budget Planning Mr. Bakhyt Sultanov, German Economy Minister Michael Gloss, representatives of business communities of both Kazakhstan and Germany.

A number of commercial agreements were signed, notably on construction of a plant producing translucent materials, a glass-making plant, as well as on cooperation in realms of industrial laser technology in O&G and some other realms, with the agreements totaling about Euro 250 million.

The agreements are expected to bring German investments to Kazakhstan up to Euro 215 million and create more than 300 jobs; 60 Kazakhstan’s managers are to be trained in leading German enterprises for up to 3 months; Kazakhstan’s investments into the German economy are to reach Euro 35 million.