Astana to play significant role in Afghanistan's situation regulation

Y. Kazykhanov met with President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, Afghan Parliament Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi and Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Zalmai Rassoul.

President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai conveyed his good wishes to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and stressed the leadership and a significant role of Kazakhstan in the region and its sustainable economic development.

The Afghan President agreed that it is necessary to develop further mutually beneficial relations between the brotherly states.

Heads of foreign services exchanged their views on key international issues, regional security problems and the development of the situation in the Central Asia, South Asia and in Afghanistan directly, taking into account the future pullout of the international security troops till the end of 2014.

The main issues of Kazakh-Afghan relations' development, perspectives of further trade, economic and investment cooperation, implementation of joint projects in the sphere of railways, extraction of minerals, agriculture, managing of emergency situations, telecommunications and energy were discussed within the meeting.

A memorandum between foreign services of Kazakhstan and Afghanistan was signed following the meeting.

During the official visit the Kazakh delegation also held several bilateral meetings with representatives of relevant ministries and agencies of Afghanistan to discuss the implementation of agreements reached within the framework of Kazakh-Afghan intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation.

Today, June 14, Kazakh Foreign Minister will attend the Conference of Foreign Ministers of "The Istanbul Process" member states.