Speaker Urges Expansion of Iran-Kazakhstan Ties
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani called for strengthened bilateral relations between Tehran and Astana in all fields by capitalizing on the two countries’ economic capacities.
“Various strategic factors have brought the two countries closer together and bilateral relations must be expanded in political, economic, trade and cultural fields by fully benefiting from the existing potentials, particularly economic capacities,” Larijani said in a Tuesday meeting with Chairman of Kazakh Parliament’s Committee on International Affairs, Defense and Security Maulen Ashimbayev.
The Iranian speaker also described Kazakhstan as a good and valuable neighbor of the Islamic Republic, and underlined a broad range of commonalities between the two nations.
Ashimbayev, for his part, referred to Iran as a powerful and good friend of his country, and said, “Expansion of sustainable relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran in diverse fields is of great significance for Kazakhstan.”
He also noted that a major objective of his visit to Iran was to put emphasis on the use of the whole possible potentials in order to broaden bilateral ties in economic and trade arenas, as well as political and parliamentary relations.
Ashimbayev also expressed Kazakhstan’s satisfaction with progress in the nuclear talks between Iran and the six major world powers, saying his country is willing to contribute to resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue.
On Monday he said Astana is ready to host the nuclear talks between Tehran and the G5+1 (the five Permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany), which have held several rounds of negotiations so far, including two rounds in the Kazakh city of Almaty.
In relevant remarks in August, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Sarybai announced that Astana was ready to host the talks between Iran and the Group 5+1.
“If necessary, we’re ready to facilitate the negotiating process,” he said.
Iran and the G5+1 countries have held several rounds of talks on Iran’s nuclear energy program, including a round of negotiations on April 6 in Almaty, where an earlier round had been held on February 26-27.
The two sides had also held two days of negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear energy program in Geneva, Switzerland, on October 15-16. They are to meet again in the Swiss city on November 7-8.
On September 12, Iranian president and his Kazakh counterpart met on the sidelines of an SCO summit in the Kyrgyz capital city of Bishkek and underlined the two countries’ resolve to bolster bilateral relations in all fields.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a political, economic and military organization which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Kazakhstan and Iran are two of the five Caspian littoral states that also include Russia, the Republic of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
In late October Kazakhstan's naval chief, Rear Admiral Zhanarbek Zhanzakov paid a visit to Iran during which he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with his Iranian counterpart which included agreements on an exchange program for cadets and facilitating repairs and the servicing of vessels at each other's ports.
