Kazakhstan's president holds talks with leaders, senior officials at CICA summit

By Burc Eruygur

ANKARA (AA) - The president of Kazakhstan held several meetings with leaders attending the two-day Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) that his country is hosting in the capital Astana, set to conclude on Thursday.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the CICA Summit, praising Azerbaijan's role in the region and broader geographical scale.

A meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was also on Tokayev's schedule, with the two leaders discussing the current state of bilateral cooperation and prospects to further strengthen it with a focus on trade and economic interaction, as well as industry.

Tokayev's talks Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif focused on similar matters. Both noted prospects of establishing cooperation in the transport, transit, logistics, and energy sectors.

The Kazakh leader also held a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, during which they discussed current challenges and trends, as well as potential further cooperation between the two sides.

The trade and economic cooperation agenda was prevalent also in other meetings by Tokayev, including those with Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, and Vietnamese Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan.

On Wednesday, Tokayev met with Qatari Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, during which the two leaders discussed bilateral relations and ways to develop them.

The two countries signed 12 different agreements aimed at improving bilateral cooperation, notably in diplomacy, investment, trade, agriculture, culture, the arts, sports, and tourism.

Tokayev also held talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday and attended the meeting of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) also held in Astana.