Russia 'invincible militarily', says Kazakh President in meeting with German Chancellor Scholz

Astana, Sep 16 (IANS) Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday that Russia is "invincible militarily" and the consequences will be "very serious" for the entire mankind if the war escalates further.

Welcoming Scholz - the first head of the German government to visit Kazakhstan in 14 years - at the Akorda on Monday, Tokayev highlighted that the Central Asian country has the longest fenced land border with Russia in the world and, at the same time, Kazakhs hold "real respect" for the Ukrainian people and their culture.

"It is clear that Russia is invincible militarily. If the war escalates further, the consequences will be very serious for all mankind, first of all, for the states directly involved in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Unfortunately, Istanbul refused to ratify the agreement and missed the best opportunity to achieve reconciliation. However, there is still a chance for peace. All peaceful initiatives of various states should be carefully reviewed and an agreement on the cessation of hostilities should be reached," Tokayev was quoted as saying by the President's official press service during his meeting with the German Chancellor.

He mentioned that there was "no disagreement" between Kazakhstan and Ukraine and Kazakhstan's embassy is still working in Kyiv.

During their meeting, both leaders confirmed that they are interested in increasing mutually-beneficial trade and economic cooperation, especially in the fields of energy, green transformation, mining, transport and logistics, climate protection, ecology and agriculture.

Last year, the bilateral trade turnover between Germany and Kazakhstan increased by 1.5 times and reached four billion dollars. In the last seven months, the volume of mutual trade has exceeded 2.3 billion dollars.

Following the negotiations, Tokayev and the German Chancellor also adopted a Joint Declaration on cooperation between Kazakhstan and Germany.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) signed later included between the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the Deutsche Bundesbank on technical issues of cooperation between central banks; between Kazakhstan's Ministry of Science and Higher Education and Germany's Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the intention to establishing the Kazakhstan-German Institute of Science and Technology under the East Kazakhstan Technical University named after D. Serikbayev; and, a memorandum on the intention to establish a Kazakh-German school.

--IANS

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