AKIPRESS.COM - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Roman Vassilenko and Ambassador of France to Kazakhstan Francis Etienne held a joint press conference dedicated to the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the French Republic on January 25, reports the Kazakh Foreign Ministry press service.

Both sides expressed satisfaction with strategic partnership between two states and confirmed mutual commitment of Astana and Paris to strengthen and enhance its further development.

In his remarks, Mr. Vassilenko noted that in the political sphere the states reached high level of understanding. France supports key regional and international initiatives of Kazakhstan.

Important events in recent years include the state visit of French President François Hollande to Kazakhstan on December 4, 2014 and the official visit of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to France in November 2015.

Over 25 years of cooperation, the two countries have created an extensive contractual legal framework, in which a special place is taken by the Strategic Partnership Agreement signed in 2008, expanded cultural ties, while friendship between the two peoples becomes stronger. Cooperation in education has received a new impetus in 2014, when the second in the world and the only in Central Asia branch of the French Sorbonne University was opened in Almaty.

Mr. Etienne noted the symbolic significance of the number 25 for the two countries, saying that the Kazakh music for the first time was performed in Paris in 1925 as part of EXPO-1925. And in 2016, there was 50 years since General Charles de Gaulle visit Baikonur spaceport.

During his speech, the French diplomat read a congratulatory message from the President of France addressed to the President of Kazakhstan on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and France, which states that the French leader reaffirms the commitment of the Fifth Republic to the Kazakhstan-French strategic partnership.

At the end of the press conference Roman Vassilenko and Francis Etienne answered questions from the media.