Aliyev and Tokayev hold two rounds of talks in Astana

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev have held expanded meeting in Astana today.

The heads of state held a meting in a limited format and the expanded meeting.

 Ilham Aliyev has arrived in Kazakhstan earlier today for an official visit at the invitation of Tokayev.

"We are glad to be welcoming you on a visit, an official visit. I would like to thank you for accepting my invitation. Last August, I paid a visit to Baku. It was absolutely productive and gave a serious impetus to the development of bilateral relations. Now there is a need to touch base with each other, check the work that is being carried out by the governments of the two countries in pursuance of the instructions of the presidents," Tokayev said.

He noted that Azerbaijan is a fraternal state for Kazakhstan, a very close state. Kazakhstan is doing everything possible to develop comprehensive cooperation in the trade, economic and investment fields and, of course, to facilitate interaction in the political arena - be it a bilateral format or international organizations.

"We have made preparations for your visit.  We are focused on very serious work to develop economic cooperation, cooperation with Azerbaijan, which plays a leading role in the Caucasus region. There are no problems between us. There is only a desire to move forward in this direction," the Kazakh leader stressed.

During the meeting, the sides described a 40% increase in trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan as a positive step. The heads of state underlined that there are possibilities for increasing the trade turnover between the two countries to a billion dollars.

At the same time, they also discussed export of Kazakhstan’s crude oil through the territory of Azerbaijan, further increase of transport and logistic capabilities as well as joint investment projects, and noted there is rapid development in laying of fiber-optic cables under the Caspian Sea. The parties hailed bilateral political dialogue and successful cooperation within international organizations between the two nations.