Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced the establishment of a “High Level Strategic Cooperation Council” following their meeting in Astana on Wednesday.
Erdoğan also met with Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov, participated in the Turkish-Kazakh business forum and signed 17 deals with Kazakhstan during his trip. Erdoğan is expected to have talks with the Kazakhstan Senate and assembly speakers on Thursday.
Erdoğan said at a joint news conference with Nazarbayev that he had very comprehensive and useful talks with the Kazakh president and that during Wednesday’s talks both countries confirmed their “joint will to advance their strategic partnership.”
The first meeting of the High Level Strategic Cooperation Council will be held when Nazarbayev visits Turkey in October of this year at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart, President Abdullah Gül.
Erdoğan told reporters that the bilateral trade volume with Kazakhstan is $3.3 billion and that both countries’ goal is to reach $10 billion in the near future. He added that Turkish investment in Kazakhstan has already exceeded $2.5 billion.
