Aberdeen looking to build relationships

On the surface you may not expect a wind-battered corner of north-western Europe and a former Soviet Central Asian republic 4,000 miles apart to have much in common.

But a relationship between the north-east of Scotland and Kazakhstan has grown, boosted by their shared interest in energy. And it is not just the black gold of oil that is the sole interest anymore.

Both now have emerging industries in “new energy” such as windfarms and, in Aberdeen’s case, hydrogen.

The Asian country has long been targeted by city council chiefs as a potential expanding market with Bridge of Don independent councillor John Reynolds leading on the relationship building aspect. The local authority is seeking to gain ever more levers of control over the city and its finances as they attempt to find new revenue streams away from decreasing government grants.

In April, the council approved economic plans with markets in Canada, China, Colombia, Mexico, Japan, Kazakhstan, Qatar and others identified as “international trade priorities”.

However there has been criticism of the human rights records of some of the countries.

Opposition SNP councillor Alex Nicoll said of the Kazakh meeting: “Given the very serious concerns raised by organisations such as Amnesty International I sincerely hope the opportunity was taken to discuss the importance of human rights.”