Eurasia Press & News
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the bolstering of the Islamic Republic’s cooperation with Kazakhstan, reminding that the two countries enjoy intact investment, agricultural, industrial and energy potentials galore. According to a statement released by the Presidential Press Office, Ahmadinejad made the remarks in a meeting with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on the sidelines of the Shanhghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Kyrgyz capital city of Bishkek on Thursday.
During the meeting, Ahmadinejad underlined expansion and deepening of the two countries’ ties and cooperation in the different political, economic and cultural areas.
He further pointed out that expansion of Iran-Kazakhstan relations serves the interests of the two nations and regional stability.
Ahmadinejad said that the volume of Tehran-Astana cooperation is on the increase, but meantime added, “Yet, considering the two sides’ abundant potentials in grounds of investment, agriculture, industry and energy, the two states’ cooperation should be further boosted and expanded.”
To conclude his remarks, the Iranian president extended an invitation to his Kazakh counterpart to pay a visit to Tehran to attend the next summit of the Caspian Sea littoral states.
For his part, Nursultan Nazarbayev voiced support for Iran’s right to access and use peaceful nuclear technology, and stressed the need for the enhanced activity of the two countries’ joint cooperation commission.
“We support Tehran’s plan for linking Iran’s nationwide railroad to the Central Asia, China and Russia,” the Kazakh president added.
Reiterating Astana’s call for the expansion of ties with Tehran in various areas, including oil, he reminded that Iran and Kazakhstan enjoy the potentials to increase their economic exchanges to USD2 bln annually, and stressed the need for the two countries’ economic and trade exchanges to meet the said ceiling.
