Azernews.Az

By Aynur Karimova

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has signed a law to ratify the agreement between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan on cooperation in the civil defense sector, emergency prevention and response.

The agreement stipulates defining the procedures of interaction of the two countries’ competent authorities in the area of civil defense, emergency prevention and response, training emergency situations specialists to provide voluntary and mutual assistance in case of a disaster or other calamity, the president’s press service said on January 13.

The cooperation under the agreement may take place in the form of information exchange, experience sharing, joint planning and other forms stipulated by the document.

The agreement also regulates the conditions for providing the necessary assistance and compensation.

Azerbaijanis and Kazakhs are both Turkic-speaking nations and share close historical, religious, and cultural ties. Both countries are among the littoral states of the Caspian Sea and possess a common maritime border.

About 130,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis live in Kazakhstan.

The trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $371 million in 2013. Some 52 Kazakh companies operate in Azerbaijan, while 723 companies with the Azerbaijani investment are registered in Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan invested $5.2 million in Azerbaijan in fixed assets in 2002-2013, while only in the last two years Azerbaijan invested $132.8 million of direct investment in Kazakh economy.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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