RIYADH, 1 March 2004 - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is due to arrive for a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia tomorrow at the invitation of the Saudi government. The aim is to boost political and commercial links between the two countries.
While here, Nazarbayev will hold talks with Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, and other senior Saudi officials, according to a spokesman from the Kazakhstan Embassy in Riyadh.
Talks will focus mainly on political and commercial relations and how the Kingdom can help that Central Asian republic, which stretches from the Chinese border to the Caspian Sea. It has a rich agro-based economy backed by a strong industrial sector as well as huge oil and gas resources.
The spokesman said the presidential delegation would be composed of some 50 members including Kazakh Foreign Minister Tokaev Kassymzhomart. On the sidelines of Nazarbayev's visit, a meeting of a Saudi-Kazakh Joint Commission will also be held with the aim to identify areas of cooperation.
The Kingdom has emerged as an important ally of Kazakhstan since it declared its independence in 1991, he said. Riyadh together with Pakistan and Turkey recently funded the construction of the largest mosque in Almaty. Since then, the Kingdom has been involved in several projects on a bilateral basis. The Saudi government also gave SR56.25 million toward construction of the Kazakh Parliament building.
Riyadh and Astana have also stepped up their efforts at commercial cooperation. At the moment, the resource-rich Central Asian republic relies heavily on revenue from oil exports, but boasts half of the former Soviet Union's total deposits of copper, besides lead, zinc, coal and nickel. The Kingdom has committed itself to funding a number of industrial and infrastructure projects in Kazakhstan.
