ASTANA – President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who arrived in Astana to participate in the 10th anniversary summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) on Nov. 3, reported the Akorda press service.
Tokayev expressed his appreciation for Erdoğan’s personal contribution to the relations between the two nations with deep-rooted friendship, regarding Türkiye as Kazakhstan’s closest and most reliable strategic partner.
He thanked the Turkish leader for his important initiatives put forward during the OTS summit, mentioning the successful implementation of the agreements, which resulted in a 54% increase in bilateral trade to $6.3 billion last year. He expressed his intention to raise this figure to $10 billion.
According to Tokayev, Kazakhstan currently has over 4,300 companies with Turkish capital, which indicates dynamic development of investment collaboration.
He congratulated Erdoğan and the Turkish people on the 100th anniversary of Türkiye’s founding. To commemorate this occasion, a street in Astana has been named “Anadoly,” he announced. Additionally, there are plans to open an avenue and park “Türkiye” in Shymkent city, and erect a monument to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Almaty.
Erdoğan thanked Tokayev for the excellent organization of the summit and lauded his decision to build a school in the Nurdağı district of the Gaziantep province, which was affected by the earthquake on Feb. 6. He assured that this school will become one of the symbols of the Turkish-Kazakh brotherhood, cherished by future generations.
Discussing the prospects for the Kazakh-Turkish strategic partnership, the two leaders focused on strengthening political dialogue, deepening cooperation across sectors such as trade, economy, investment, energy, transport, logistics, agriculture, culture, and humanitarian affairs.
Tokayev also held a meeting with Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty (People’s Council) of Turkmenistan. He emphasized that this meeting would enhance the strategic partnership between the fraternal countries.
Berdimuhamedov extended his gratitude to Tokayev for Kazakhstan’s support of Turkmenistan’s positive neutral status. He also appreciated Kazakhstan’s leadership in supporting Turkmenistan’s foreign policy initiatives within the United Nations’ framework.
The presidents noted the positive dynamics in mutual trade and discussed the progress of several projects spanning sectors like trade, energy, industry, transport, logistics, and cultural and humanitarian endeavors.
During the anniversary summit, Tokayev awarded the Supreme Order of Turkic World to the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to Turkic unity.
Source : AstanaTimes