Kazakhstan, Astana, Dec.26 / Trend, K. Konyrova /
Germany pays special attention to Kazakhstan's candidacy to host the EXPO-2017 exhibition in Astana, Kazakh Foreign Ministry said on Monday with reference to German Deputy Minister of Economy and Technologies Karl-Ernst Brauner, who is co-chairman of Kazakh-German Intergovernmental Working Group on Trade and Economic Cooperation.
"Brauner said over 20 years of independence, Kazakhstan has made a major economic progress, which promotes the growth of population's welfare and the country's prestige in the world," Kazakh Foreign Ministry said.
According to the report, Karl-Ernst Brauner voiced his position during a meeting with the executive secretary of Kazakh Foreign Ministry, EXPO-2017 project national coordinator Rapil Zhoshibayev in Germany.
In addition, the meeting discussed boosting cooperation between the two countries. According to the German side, the volume of Germany's mutual trade turnover with Kazakhstan increased by 26 percent and exceeded 3.5 billion euros only during the first half of 2011.
In general, Germany's mutual trade volume with Kazakhstan hits 63 percent of Germany's total trade with eight countries of the Central Asia and Caucasus.
As it was previously reported, the International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE) will make a decision on a host country of EXPO-2017 after 157 BIE member countries vote in December 2012.