Kazakhstan Reaffirms Support For Settlement In Afghanistan

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Afghanistan Alimkhan Yessengeldiyev presented his credentials to President of the country Ashraf Ghani, Kazinform has learnt from the press service of the Kazakh MFA. At the onset of the meeting, the Afghan President thanked the Kazakh side and personally President Nursultan Nazarbayev for consistent support of all international and regional initiatives aimed at the establishment of peace and security in Afghanistan. He stressed that Kazakhstan is Kabul's largest partner in Central Asia which is evidenced by two of his recent visits to Astana in 2017 and negotiations with the Kazakh President. The Afghan President continued by stressing the need to deepen trade and economic cooperation between Astana and Kabul and urged Kazakhstani businessmen to play a more active role in the Afghan market, especially in terms of wheat deliveries, railway projects and construction of flour mills and mining enterprises in Afghanistan. The Afghan side, in turn, is ready to increase fruits and nuts imports to Kazakhstani market. Ambassador Yessengeldiyev expressed gratitude to the President of Afghanistan for hospitality and emphasized that the Kazakh leader attaches utmost attention to the problem of Afghanistan as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. The Kazakhstani diplomat expressed readiness to exert every effort to further expand bilateral ties between the two countries and assured the Afghan side that Astana will further support Kabul in the settlement of the situation in the country. Ambassador Yessengeldiyev also met with Salahuddin Rabbani, Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs, to exchange views on a wide range of issues of bilateral and multilateral cooperation.