OREANDA-NEWS. September 17, 2009. Astana is hosting talks of Prime Minister Karim Massimov of Kazakhstan and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung of Vietnam, reported the Official website government.kz.

It is the first visit of a Vietnamese Prime Minister to Kazakhstan for the last 15 years.

Bilateral trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Vietnam in 2008 totaled USD 96.1 million. For Jan-Jul 2009 the indicator reached USD 60.08 million (with exports of USD 49.35 million and imports of USD 12.73 million). Kazakhstan exports asbestos, rolled metal, steel rolling, equipment and imports Vietnamese tea, medical products, paper and cardboard, glass, and computers.

Following the talks, the Prime Ministers signed a number of documents, notably an agreement to support mutual investments, on temporary employment of the two countries’ citizens in the territories of each other, on cooperation in education realm, on cooperation between KazMunaiGaz National O&G Company and Petro Vietnam (Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group). Besides, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam signed a memorandum on energy cooperation.

“Today we have signed a number of founding documents to facilitate development of businesses of the two nations”, said Karim Massimov. He also announced that in the nearest time the two nations will sign a double tax treaty.

In the course of the talks, the Vietnamese side expressed its intention to join the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

“I am grateful that Vietnam decided to be a full-fledged member of the CICA and support Kazakhstan within ACEAN”, Karim Massimov told a briefing following the talks.

Kazakhstan and Vietnam have agreed on close cooperation in the energy sector. “Today we have reached agreement on some points. The first direction will be expanding energy cooperation in territories of Kazakhstan, Vietnam and third countries… Vietnam’s economy is among the fastest-growing in the world and the country’s most advanced sectors could compliment the Kazakhstan’s programs of economy diversification”, the Kazakh Prime Minister said.

“Besides, we have reached an agreement in principle to grant bursaries to Kazakh students in Vietnam and Vietnamese students in Kazakhstan”, - said Karim Massimov.