President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at a meeting in Astana with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken that Kazakhstan is ready to develop strategic cooperation with the United States, the press service of the President of Kazakhstan reported.
"Your visit is especially important in terms of giving an additional impetus to building our strategic cooperation. We have very good and reliable long-term partnerships in such strategically important areas as security, energy, trade and investment. Therefore, we are ready to further develop this cooperation. Using With this opportunity, I would like to express our appreciation for the United States' continued and strong support for our independence, territorial integrity, and sovereignty," Tokayev said at the meeting, TASS reports.
The US is one of Kazakhstan's largest investors, with a total investment of over $62 billion, Tokayev said. He welcomed the US efforts to expand cooperation in the C5 + 1 format (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and the USA), noting the importance of holding a meeting of the heads of foreign affairs agencies of Central Asian countries and the United States in Astana.
The US Secretary of State thanked Tokayev for his hospitality and conveyed to him the greetings from the US President.
"We have a strong relationship, and it will only get stronger. We are committed to this course. At the same time, we are grateful to you and your team for bringing together the Central Asian partners here in Astana today. I hope that we, along with colleagues - Foreign Ministers will take part in even more concrete work to unite the region, creating stronger ties, interacting more closely, focusing on practical things," Blinken said at a meeting with Tokayev. The American diplomat praised the political and economic transformations in Kazakhstan.
On February 28, Astana hosted a summit of the Foreign Ministers of the Central Asian countries and the head of the US State Department in the C5+1 format.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
February 28, 2023