Astana-Tehran cooperation developing comprehensively: Envoy
By Reza Abesh Ahmadlou
Staff writer
“Kazakhstan’s cooperation with Iran is developing comprehensively,” said the Kazakh ambassador to Tehran on Monday, “examples of which are the official visit of the president of Kazakhstan to Iran last year.”
Speaking at a ceremony held in Tehran to celebrate the National Day of Kazakhstan on Monday evening, Askhat Orazbay added that the Kazakh prime minister visited Iran this spring, and the official visit of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi to his country is expected in the near future.
The ceremony was attended by ambassadors of other countries and international organizations to Iran as well as guests from Iran.
These will certainly give a new impetus to the further development of bilateral cooperation, the ambassador noted.
“During a short period by historical standards, our country has passed a long and hard way of establishing its statehood. At the beginning of independence, Kazakhstan started implementing reforms aimed at transforming from a Soviet type planned economy to a modern free market economy,” Orazbay said.
The envoy went on to say that modernization and economic growth were the main priorities.
“Facts convincingly speak about our success in state-building and conducting economic reforms. As a result, Kazakhstan has become a leading country in the Central Asian region,” said the ambassador.
Kazakhstan is a country with a rich historical and cultural heritage. It is located in the heart of Eurasia, at the crossroads of the world’s oldest civilizations, connecting the East with the West, where traditional Islamic values harmoniously coexist with Western values.
Despite being the world’s ninth largest country by territory and having the longest land borders, Kazakhstan at the outset of its independence has managed to fully complete the legal process of delimitation and demarcation of its borders with all neighboring countries including Russia and China, he stated.
“We do not have territorial disputes with any of our neighboring countries.”
Thanks to its multi-directional foreign policy, Kazakhstan does not have a single enemy country in the world, Orazbay said, adding that a significant achievement of Kazakhstan has been shutting down one of the largest nuclear test sites, known as Semipalatinsk. At that time, Kazakhstan possessed the fourth largest nuclear arsenal in the world.
Construction in a short time of a totally new and modern capital in the middle of the country, the city of Astana became a symbol of independence and sovereignty and a milestone in the country’s modern history.
Also speaking at the event, Houshang Mohammadi, a deputy agriculture minister of Iran said the two countries enjoy friendly relations.
Pointing to the current ascending trend of trade between Kazakhstan and Iran, Mohammadi said that considering the potentials of both sides, the level of bilateral trade could rise much further.