Bilateral meetings with H.E. Aidarbek Saparov, Minister for Agriculture, and with H.E. Yerbolat Ibraikhanov, Deputy Minister for Water Resources and Irrigation of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Astana - FAO Director-General, Dr QU Dongyu, and H.E. Aidarbek Saparov, Minister for Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan, met on the sidelines of the Astana International Forum 2025 during the Director-General’s three-day visit in Kazakhstan, to discuss ways to further strengthen cooperation between FAO and Kazakhstan.

The Minister welcomed the Director-General in Kazakhstan and noted that agriculture was the overarching foundation for food security in the country, and the region. The Minister further informed that the Government had set three strategic goals: to increase yields in agriculture; to increase organic and value-added agricultural products; and the improvement of sustainability and resilience of agriculture to mitigate the impacts of climate change. In this regard, the Minister informed that Kazakhstan had joined the FAO One Country Once Priority Product (OCOP) initiative with aport apples as its Special Agricultural Product. Finally, the Minister emphasized that FAO was an important partner in achieving these goals and in particular commended the work of the FAO office in Kazakhstan.

The Director-General noted that agrifood systems needed transformation more than ever to be more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable to address current challenges. He added that FAO stood ready to support Kazakhstan and the whole Central Asia region to become a food bucket of the region and beyond. The Director-General further invited Kazakhstan to collaborate with FAO through other key initiatives such as the Digital Villages, Green City Initiative, Blue Transformation, One Health, and others.

During his visit to Astana, the Director-General also met with H.E. Yerbolat Ibraikhanov, Deputy Minister for Water Resources and Irrigation during which they discussed the new FAO-Kazakhstan Partnership Programme on Sustainable Water Resources and Irrigation. The two discussed how the Partnership Programme could also cover other Central Asian countries, considering Kazakhstan's dependency on transboundary rivers in the region. The two agreed to continue working together to further strengthen collaboration.