Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to create (a) economic and (b) cultural links with Kazakhstan.

Economic cooperation and cultural links are an important part of the UK-Kazakh relationship which celebrated its 25^th anniversary last year. 2018 saw a full calendar of activities, including the launch of our high-profile Legal Services are Great Campaign in Astana and Almaty and the Fifth Meeting of the UK-Kazakhstan Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation attended by George Hollingbery MP, Minister of State for Trade Policy. Department for International Trade Minister of State Graham Stuart attended the official launch of the Astana International Financial Centre, a regional financial hub developed with support from TheCityUK, which has an associated court with separate legal jurisdiction, based on English common law, and staffed by British judges. Other joint UK-Kazakh ventures include: ‘Creative Central Asia’, an annual leadership conference between senior representatives from the UK’s and Kazakhstan’s creative sector; ‘Bring the Happy’, an interactive arts experience using cabaret-style music and theatre; and a partnership involving Cambridge University and Kazakhstan’s National Bureau of Translation which has collaborated on the translation and publication of a new anthology of modern Kazakh literature.​