K. Umarov held talks with Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia

On behalf of Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Kazykhanov, K. Umarov gave an official invitation to Prince Saud bin Faisal bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, to the 38^th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Conference that was planned to be held in Astana.

K. Umarov emphasized that Kazakhstan paid special attention to the upcoming forum that was to be the beginning of official presidency of Kazakhstan in the OIC. Mr. Umarov told about priorities of Kazakhstan's policy while presiding in the Organization. During the meeting with Saudi diplomat K. Umarov also touched upon the relevant issues of foreign and regional policy.

The Saudi diplomat, in his turn, expressed gratitude for the invitation and assured the Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan that Saudi Arabia would take part in the upcoming 38^th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Conference and support all the initiatives of chairing in this Organization Kazakhstan. Besides, he also said that the Saudi side was ready to provide all-round organization and technical assistance for holding the event in Astana. Nizar Madani expressed his confidence that the Astana forum would be successful and productive.

Besides, the interlocutors discussed a wide range of issues on bilateral cooperation. K. Umarov told about the intention of Kazakhstan to develop the relations with Saudi Arabia to the level of strategic partnership.