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Kazakhstan’s President Nazarbayev starts official visit to UAE on January 15

During the visit Nazarbayev will meet Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan

ASTANA, January 15. /TASS/. Kazkahstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev starts his official to visit to Abu-Dhabi, UAE, on Sunday.

According to the press service of the President, the visit will last through January 16.

This will be the first official foreign visit of the Kazakh President in 2017.

During the visit Nazarbayev will meet Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan and other state officials.

In an interview with the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the UAE Kairat Lama Sharif said that during the visit the parties will sign memorandums of cooperation on consular issues, tourism, international motor transportations, financing sector.

"UAE has become a reliable and effective partner in the Arab and Muslim world for Kazakhstan," the diplomat said.

It is expected that economic issues will be the key topics on the agenda.

According to the data, cited by Lama Sharif, from 2005 to 2016, the inflow of direct investments from the UAE to Kazakhstan's economy reached almost $2 bln.

In January-October 2016, the mutual trade turnover reached $285 mln, which is 3.4 times more than in the same period of 2015. This growth was in particular thanks to the increase of Kazakh exports, including agricultural exports.

According to Kazakhstan's Ambassador to the UAE, further increase of supplies of agricultural products to the UAE is one of the most promising areas of partnership.

"Kazakh agro-industrial companies are exploring options to delivery various types of food to the United Arab Emirates, establishing direct contacts with potential buyers in the Emirates," he said.

The two countries are developing cooperation in space industry. Last year, they signed a Memorandum of Understanding on space explorations.

Kazakhstan also takes over the UAE experience to develop financial market.

During the visit a memorandum of understanding will be signed between the Astana international financial center, which is now being built in Kazakhstan, and a similar center in Dubai. Kazakhstan uses the Dubai center as a model for its own financial center.

The parties will also pay attention to cooperation in energy sector. Both countries possess rich hydrocarbon resources and also strive to develop alternative energy sources.

For Kazakhstan, which is to host Expo-2017 Future Energy exhibition in Astana this year, the use of renewable energy sources becomes one of the priorities.

UAE became the first Arab country in the Middle East that officially confirmed participation in this exhibition.

On January 16, the Kazakh leader will take part in the World Future Energy summit in Abu Dhabi. According to experts, this event, which name coincides with the topic of the exhibition in Astana (Expo-2017 Future Energy), will gives start to a number of large-scale activities aimed at promotion of the exhibition in the Kazakh capital.