Tokayev: Kazakhstan is ready for further cooperation with the United States

Anadolu: Kazakhstan is ready for further development of cooperation with the United States of America. This was stated by the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at a meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Tuesday in Astana.

According to the press service of the Kazakh leader, welcoming the American diplomat, the head of state noted that since the establishment of diplomatic relations, Kazakhstan and the United States "have built exemplary cooperation in both bilateral and multilateral formats."

"Your visit is especially important from the point of view of giving an additional impetus to building 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. Taking this opportunity, I would like to express my gratitude for the constant and firm support of the United States for our independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty," the President said.

Speaking about economic cooperation, Tokayev noted that the United States is one of the largest investors in Kazakhstan with a total investment of more than $ 62 billion.

The Leader of Kazakhstan welcomed the efforts of the United States to expand cooperation in the C5+1 format, noting the importance of holding a meeting of the heads of foreign ministries of Central Asian countries and the United States in Astana.

In turn, the US Secretary of State expressed gratitude to Tokayev for the hospitality and conveyed to him warm words of greeting from President Joe Biden.

"We have strong relations, and they will only strengthen. We are committed to this course. At the same time, we are grateful to you and your team for bringing together Central Asian partners here in Astana today. I hope that together with our colleagues – the foreign ministers – we will take part in even more concrete work to unite the region, creating stronger ties, interacting more closely, focusing on practical things. I think this will benefit both the peoples of Central Asia and the United States. We intend to cooperate at the highest level. I am very happy to be here and contribute to strengthening our cooperation," Blinken said.

In addition, the American diplomat praised the political and economic transformations in Kazakhstan.