Kazakhstan wants closer contacts with Iranian MPs - Senate Speaker

Speaker Tokayev said Kazakhstan and Iran have great potential for further development of mutually beneficial political and economic cooperation. He pointed out that the upper chamber of the Kazakh Parliament is keen to establish closer contacts with the Majilis of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran and invited Iranian parliamentarians to visit Astana. Minister Zarif lauded Astana's interest in closer ties with the Iranian MPs. "Nursultan Nazarbayev's forthcoming visit to Iran will give a new impulse to the bilateral cooperation between the two friendly nations," he said. At the meeting, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev also briefed the guest about the preparations for the 5th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana and stressed Kazakhstan attaches great importance to the participation of Secretary General of the World Forum for Proximity of the Islamic Schools of Thought Ayatollah Mohsen Araki in the congress. The Iranian Foreign Minister, in turn, highly commended Nursultan Nazarbayev's initiative on the convocation of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions and Kazakhstan's contribution to the negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.