Nazarbayev receives Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev has had a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif, Tengrinews reports citing the press service of Akorda.

Kazakhstan considers Iran a close political and economic partner. The bilateral ties between the two nations have been progressively developing regardless of various difficulties, the Kazakh leader noted.

“I have had trust-based working relationships with all leaders of Iran. I have met four times with the incumbent president of Iran Hassan Rouhani. Our countries have a great potential for cooperation. A significant work has been carried out within the frameworks of the project to revive the Silk Way. A railway linking Kazakhstan and the Persian Gulf will contribute to the strengthening of economic relations. Our countries also agreed on the Caspian Sea delimitation and thanks to that this issue will be resolved,” Nazarbayev said.

Besides, Kazakh President congratulated Javad Zarif on the outcomes of long lasting negotiations regarding Iran’s nuclear activities that ended on April 2 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Nazarbayev went on to emphasize Kazakhstan's contribution into the negotiation process, in particular, Kazakhstan's assistance in holding two rounds of the negotiations on February 25-26 and April 5-6, 2013 in Almaty. “Kazakhstan also contributed to the settlement of this issue. Probably, not all the problems have been solved, but the achieved outcomes give big hopes for the future,” Nazarbayev said.

Iranian Foreign Minister expressed gratitude for Kazakhstan's assistance in the negotiation process between the six world powers and Iran and also conveyed greetings on behalf of Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani.

“Kazakhstan and Iran are brotherly nations that have common history and culture. We have similar positions on many international and regional issues. Since the visit of President Hassan Rouhani to Kazakhstan, the level of cooperation in trade and economy between our countries has grown considerably. We hope that the reciprocal visit of Nursultan Nazarbayev to Iran will give a new impulse to the economic ties,” Javad Zarif said.

He also noted that Kazakhstan and Iran had excellent prospects for collaboration in other fields. “We have a good foundation for further cooperation in transit of raw materials and minerals, processing industries and road construction. Iran intends to deepen cooperation with Kazakhstan in these and other areas. We are confident that with the support of President Nursultan Nazarbayev our relations with Kazakhstan will be strengthening further," Zarif concluded.

By Assel Satubaldina