NUR-SULTAN, October 7. /TASS/. Kazakhstan’s first President Nursultan Nazarbayev wished Russian leader Vladimir Putin a happy birthday in a phone call and praised his vast contribution to cementing the strategic partnership and alliance between the two countries, Nazarbayev’s press office said in a statement on Wednesday.

"In the conversation, the leader of the nation [Nazarbayev - TASS] heartily greeted Vladimir Putin on his birthday and wished him good health, inexhaustible energy and success in the work for the benefit of the fraternal people of Russia. Kazakhstan’s first president emphasized the Russian leader’s enormous contribution to a consistent deepening of the two countries’ strategic partnership and alliance," the statement says.

According to the press office, Nazarbayev and Putin exchanged views on the pressing regional and global issues. At the end of the conversation, the two men hailed the exemplary level of the Kazakh-Russian cooperation and broad prospects for its development for the two nations’ sake.

Later in the day, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also wished Putin a happy birthday by phone. The two heads of state discussed Nagorno-Karabakh and Kyrgyzstan.