The documents that shaped Kazakhstan–Israel relations in 1995 and 2000

Several agreements were signed in 1995

Official accounts often describe 1995 as the year of the first official visit to Israel by Kazakhstan's president, the adoption of a declaration on the foundations of relations and the signing of several intergovernmental agreements. Reading the documents themselves shows that the treaty framework developed in at least two stages.

On 30 August 1995, a package of agreements on cultural cooperation, science and technology, tourism and air services was signed in Almaty. On 27 December, during Nursultan Nazarbayev's official visit to Israel, the Declaration on the Foundations of Relations, an agreement on the promotion and mutual protection of investments, and separate agreements on agriculture, health and environmental protection were signed in Jerusalem. Kazakhstan's foreign ministry later listed these documents among the main elements of the bilateral treaty framework.

The framework covered many areas. It established political principles for relations and rules for protecting investments, while cultural and educational contacts developed alongside cooperation in aviation, agricultural technology and medicine. The phrase “the 1995 agreements” therefore encompasses documents with very different purposes and legal provisions.

The August 1995 agreements established channels for cooperation

The cultural agreement extended well beyond the arts. It covered education, science, sport, journalism, television, radio and other media. The parties provided for direct contacts between universities and educational institutions; exchanges of researchers, teachers and students; conferences and scholarships; cooperation between museums, libraries and archives; film festivals; sporting exchanges; and contacts between journalists.

An intergovernmental framework for educational and university ties was already in place in 1995, long before the more recent memoranda. The agreement permitted and encouraged exchanges, but did not itself establish that every programme envisaged had begun operating.

A separate agreement on science and technology provided a more specialised framework. It envisaged joint research, visits by scientists and specialists, exchanges of postgraduate students and trainees, research findings, equipment and technical documentation, joint publications and contacts with scientific organisations in third countries. The document entered into force on 30 April 1998, rather than on the date it was signed.

This early framework also remained part of the later treaty history. When preparing an agreement on cooperation in the peaceful exploration and use of space in 2009, Kazakhstan and Israel explicitly referred to the science and technology agreement of 30 August 1995. The later space agreement entered into force in February 2013. This is a specific example of an earlier framework agreement providing a legal basis for a new, specialised area of cooperation.

Tourism and aviation were also covered

The tourism agreement envisaged contacts between tourism organisations and government bodies, encouragement of investment in tourism, exchanges of experts and professional information, and a joint committee. It was signed on 30 August 1995, but entered into force only on 24 February 1997.

The air services agreement is another clear example. Its annex already provided in 1995 for scheduled services from Almaty to Tel Aviv by a Kazakhstani carrier and from Tel Aviv to Almaty by an Israeli carrier. The agreement itself entered into force in May 1996.

Air Astana launched a scheduled Almaty–Tel Aviv service on 7 September 2023.

The main arrangements followed in December 1995

On 27 December 1995, the parties signed the Declaration on the Foundations of Relations in Jerusalem. It based relations on sovereign equality, mutual respect, peaceful settlement of disputes, non-interference in internal affairs, and compliance with the UN Charter and international law. Five years later, the 2000 declaration explicitly identified the 1995 document as its foundation.

A practical investment document accompanied the general political declaration. The agreement on the promotion and mutual protection of investments established investor protections, compensation rules in cases of expropriation, and provisions for transferring investments and income. Kazakhstan ratified it by law in July 1996.

Investment relations thus have their own treaty history, distinct from statistics on actual investment. The agreement sets out the rules the parties agreed to apply to investments. National Bank data and information about a particular company answer a different question. They show how much was actually invested and where.

Agriculture was already on the agenda in 1995

The agricultural agreement of 27 December 1995 covered agricultural technology, crop and livestock production, and the storage and processing of agricultural products. The two countries' agricultural authorities were to coordinate its implementation.

The treaty framework subsequently developed. On 14 December 2016, the parties signed a new agreement on agricultural cooperation, which entered into force on 24 May 2021. It separately lists crop and livestock production, veterinary medicine, plant protection, agricultural science, product processing, water-saving technologies, aquaculture and specialist training. MASHAV is explicitly named as a participant in training programmes.

The 1995 agreement included water resource protection

The December 1995 environmental protection agreement covered water resource management and protection, soil and land protection, combating desertification, air protection and waste management. It entered into force on 19 October 1998.

Water resources had been part of the treaty agenda since 1995. Documents from 2025 and 2026 describe new negotiations and infrastructure projects without establishing a direct connection to the earlier agreement.

Medicine also received a separate legal framework

The agreement on cooperation in health and medicine was signed on 27 December 1995 and entered into force on 24 September 1998. It provided for exchanges of medical information and materials, and for subsequent cooperation plans between the two countries' health ministries.

Signing and entry into force took place on different dates

A chronology needs to distinguish the dates documents were signed from the dates they entered into force.

Four documents could share a signing date but begin to have legal effect at entirely different times. The air services agreement entered into force in May 1996. The tourism agreement followed in February 1997, the science and technology agreement in April 1998, and the cultural agreement in December 1998. The environmental and medical agreements signed in December 1995 also entered into force only in 1998.

The 2000 declaration expanded the 1995 arrangements

Nursultan Nazarbayev's second official visit to Israel took place from 3 to 5 April 2000. On 5 April, the Declaration on Further Development of Mutual Understanding and Cooperation was signed in Jerusalem. Its text explicitly refers to the Declaration on the Foundations of Relations of 27 December 1995.

The 2000 declaration thus drew directly on the 1995 declaration and recorded the development of an existing treaty framework.

The political provisions became more specific. The parties stated their intention to expand political dialogue, hold consultations between foreign ministries and cooperate in international organisations. The declaration also mentioned parliamentary ties, combating terrorism and organised crime, and cooperation on international security.

The economic provisions also widened. The document discussed direct contacts between economic actors, projects in agriculture, industry, energy and technology, and the role of the intergovernmental commission. It separately mentioned Kazakhstan's oil and other resources, and the country's then-future accession to the World Trade Organization.

The declaration also brought cultural and educational ties into the broader political agenda. These included the media, education, culture, tourism, sport and direct contacts between regions and cities.

While the 1995 document set out the basic principles of relations, the 2000 declaration sought to connect political dialogue with more extensive economic and social cooperation.

More practical documents accompanied the declaration

The foreign ministry's official treaty overview identifies at least two other documents from April 2000. One concerns cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters; the other covers entrepreneurship, investment and the expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation.

The customs agreement provided for exchanges of information and experience, technical control methods, experts and professional information on customs legislation and procedures. It was signed in Jerusalem on 3 April 2000 and provided for entry into force after the necessary domestic procedures had been completed.

By the early 2000s, the treaty framework covered trade infrastructure as well as individual areas of cooperation. It included investment guarantees, customs cooperation and contacts between businesses.

The government approved an action plan after the visit

A particularly significant document appeared a few months later in Astana.

On 14 July 2000, Kazakhstan's government approved a special plan to implement the agreements and arrangements reached during the presidential visit of 3–5 April. Government bodies were assigned specific actions. The foreign ministry was to report to the government on progress at least once every six months.

The plan included further procedures for the signed documents and preparations for cooperation in innovation, agriculture and education. It also called for exploring Intel's and Ormat's participation in technology projects, and continuing cooperation with Gilat Satellite on communications systems in remote parts of Kazakhstan.

The government plan establishes that these tasks were assigned. It does not establish that a factory was built, an investment was received, an Intel project went ahead or a particular communications system was commissioned.

Why these documents still matter

The 1995 science and technology agreement was later explicitly cited in the space cooperation treaty. Agriculture received a new agreement in 2016, which entered into force in 2021. Kazakhstan's embassy website continues to list the agreements of 1995 and 2000 among the current elements of the bilateral treaty framework.

In brief

• 30 August 1995, Almaty. The parties signed agreements on culture, science and technology, tourism and air services.
• 27 December 1995, Jerusalem. The parties signed the Declaration on the Foundations of Relations, the investment agreement, and documents on agriculture, health and the environment.
• Signing and entry into force are different events. Some agreements signed in 1995 entered into force only between 1996 and 1998.
• 5 April 2000. The new declaration drew explicitly on the 1995 treaty framework and expanded the political and economic agenda rather than replacing it.
• April 2000. Customs matters, entrepreneurship and investment were added to the treaty framework.
• 14 July 2000. Kazakhstan approved a separate plan to implement the arrangements reached during the visit. A project's inclusion in the plan does not establish that it was subsequently carried out.
• Later developments. The 1995 science agreement became one of the foundations for space cooperation. In agriculture, the parties signed a new document in 2016.