Kazakhstan expects investments from American corporations

Kazakhstan is expecting investments from American corporations, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Kazakhstan Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov as saying prior to the meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “This is my first official visit to the United States as the Foreign Minister and I am thankful to Secretary of State Clinton for the invitation and the opportunity to discuss our growing strategic partnership,” Kazykhanov said. Head of Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry noted that Kazakhstan and the U.S. achieved a lot in 20 years of cooperation and expressed hope for closer relations in future. “Our countries have obligations on core values and principles of freedom and opportunities, peace and cooperation, dialog and understanding. Enhancement of the regime of nonproliferation of nuclear weapons has always been one of the major pillars of our bilateral partnership. I look forward to discuss our further work in this area. We are also planning the meeting of President Nazarbayev and President Obama at the coming nuclear security summit in Seoul. This meeting will provide input in creation of the nuclear-secure world,” Yerzhan Kazykhanov said. He tagged cooperation in the interests of the regional stability and development in Central Asia an important part of the countries’ partnership. Besides, Kazakhstan and the U.S. are discussing joint initiatives for stabilization of the situation in Afghanistan, provision of material-technical support to the United States, as well as Kazakhstan’s participation in the Northern Distribution Network. “I am look forward to discuss economic cooperation, investment capabilities and energy partnership that will continue for the benefit of both countries. American corporations may play a big role in diversification of Kazakhstan and invest into our economy,” Kazykhanov noted. The Minister mentioned in his speech that a new multi-party Parliament had been elected in Kazakhstan recently and the United States greeted that fact. “The elections became an important step on the path of enhancement of pluralistic political culture, strengthening rule of law, more effective protection of human rights and more advanced democracy. And we are counting on more reliable cooperation and the dialog in this important area,” he said.