31.10.2023

Grand opening of the Honorary Consulate of Estonia

On October 31, 2023, the grand opening of the Honorary Consulate of Estonia in Almaty took place. The opening ceremony was attended by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Estonia, His Excellency Toomas Tirs, Vice Minister of Transport of Estonia, Sander Salmu, Honorary Consul of Estonia, Vagif Husseinov, Chairman of the Board of the Society of Honorary Consuls, Denis Van den Weghe, Head of the MFA Representation in Almaty, Bakytzhan Bulegenov, as well as honorary consuls and business delegations of various countries. This is the second honorary Consulate of Estonia in Kazakhstan. The first one is located in Uralsk.

Kazakhstan and Estonia have more than 30 years of experience in diplomatic relations. "We are pleased to announce that today we are officially opening the Honorary Consulate of Estonia in Almaty. In fact, we have been here for 6 years, but right now we have the opportunity to open an official office where everyone can apply for support in solving business issues between our countries. We are here to build mutually good business relations between the companies of our countries," - as H.E. Toomas Tirs said . The Ambassador also stressed that good relations have been formed between our countries not only at the diplomatic level, but also at the level of business communications.

The business potential between Kazakhstan and Estonia has positive dynamics. Only in 2022, the import of Estonian goods reached 77.8 million euros, and exports from Kazakhstan to Estonia showed a figure of 65.9 million euros. For 9 months of this year, the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Estonia reached about 112 million US dollars. According to Toomas Tirs, this year we can expect an increase in trade turnover to 200 million euros.

Estonia supplies agricultural machinery and equipment to the Kazakh market, in return it receives oils and petroleum products. Today in our country there are more than 70 enterprises with the participation of Estonian capital in the field of construction, production of furniture and products, transport and logistics. One of the main rapidly developing areas of cooperation is also the IT sphere, since "both Kazakhstan and Estonia are quite developed in this area."

The position of Honorary Consul of Estonia in Almaty has been held for the past six years by Vagif Husseinov, a Kazakhstani entrepreneur and founder of the fintech company Geeko Invest. In his welcoming speech, the Honorary Consul noted the importance of opening the office of the Honorary Consulate for the development of both existing and future business relations between the countries. "The doors of the Honorary Consulate are always open to representatives of the business community of Almaty and Estonia," - as Vagif Husseinov said.

The opening of the Honorary Consulate of Estonia in Almaty is another step in strengthening our international relations and long-term cooperation. We are glad that this event contributes to further rapprochement and mutual understanding between the two States.