ASTANA, February 28. /TASS/. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said during a meeting in Astana with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the country was ready to develop strategic cooperation with the United States, the press service of Kazakhstan's head of state reported on Tuesday.
"Your visit is especially important given additional impetus to our strategic cooperation. We have built a very good and reliable long-term partnerships in so many strategically important areas like security, energy, trade, and investment. So we are ready to further develop this cooperation. I would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to the continuous and firm support of the United States for our independence, territorial integrity, and sovereignty," Tokayev told Blinken.
Tokayev noted that the US was one of Kazakhstan's largest investors, with more than $62 billion in total investments. The Kazakh leader also welcomed US efforts to expand cooperation in the C5+1 format (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and the United States), noting the importance of the Astana meeting of Central Asian and US foreign policy leaders.
In turn, the US Secretary of State thanked Tokayev for his hospitality and conveyed the words of welcome from the US president. "The relationship [between our countries] is strong; it will only get stronger. We’re committed to that. At the same time, we’re grateful to you, we’re grateful to your team for bringing together Central Asian partners here in Astana today. And so I look forward to working with our fellow foreign ministers to really engage in even - and ever-more practical work in bringing the region together, creating greater connections, connectivity, and focusing on practical things that we can do to strengthen that work," Blinken said during his meeting with Tokayev. The US top diplomat praised the political and economic transformation in Kazakhstan.
At the end of the conversation, Tokayev extended his best wishes to US President Joe Biden.