MOSCOW, April 10. /TASS/. Russia appreciates Kazakhstan’s new Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu’s decision to pay his first foreign visit to Moscow and views this as a sign of the spirit of allied relations between the two countries, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

"We highly value this move by our Kazakh friends," it said. "Choosing Russia as the destination for the first foreign visit meets the spirit of allied relations and strategic partnership between the two countries, as well as joint work geared to strengthen good neighborly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation."

During his stay in Moscow, the top Kazakh diplomat will hold talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. "The honored guest will lay a wreath to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Kremlin wall. He will take part in the ceremony of signing a plan of cooperation between the Russian and Kazakh foreign ministries for 2023-2024," the ministry said.

"The ministers will discuss the entire spectrum of the bilateral agenda, including economic and cultural-humanitarian dimensions. Much attention will naturally be focused on political matters, which are becoming especially topical amid the current difficult situation in the world," it said, adding that the sides will coordinate their approaches on key regional and international problems. "It is important to continue the course of coordinating efforts within such integration associations as the EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union - TASS), CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization), CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), and SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization)," the ministry stressed.

According to the ministry, the importance of bilateral ties between Russia and Kazakhstan is evidenced by the amount of communication between their leaders: the two presidents have held more than ten offline meetings and 20 telephone calls in 2022.