President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and President of the Lao People's Democratic Republic Thongloun Sisoulith held talks in an expanded format. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.

Tokayev noted that Kazakhstan views Laos as an important partner in Southeast Asia. He highlighted the significant potential for expanding the volume of Kazakh goods supplied to the Lao market.

"First of all, we can supply metal products, food, petrochemicals, agricultural products, chemical industry, machinery and pharmaceuticals," the president said.

The head of state drew attention to the interaction of the two countries in the transport and logistics sector and highly appreciated Laos' achievements in this area.

"Kazakhstan intends to increase the volume of products transported through Laos to Southeast Asia. We highly appreciate Laos' achievements in transforming from a landlocked country into a country connecting Southeast Asian nations. Laos – the China Railway has strengthened the country's transit potential and opened the way to connect ASEAN countries with China and Europe. In this regard, our governments need to work out the conclusion of intergovernmental and interagency agreements in the transport and logistics sector," the President of Kazakhstan stated.

Following the talks, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Thongloun Sisoulith adopted a Joint Statement confirming both countries' interest in further expanding bilateral cooperation.

In the presence of the heads of state, the following intergovernmental documents were signed:

  • 01Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Lao People's Democratic Republic on political consultations;
  • 02Memorandum of Understanding between the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Supreme People's Prosecutor's Office of the Lao People's Democratic Republic;
  • 03Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Lao People's Democratic Republic on cooperation in the field of information and communication technologies and e-government services;
  • 04Memorandum on establishing sister-city relations between the city of Astana of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the city of Vientiane of the Lao People's Democratic Republic.