During the meeting, Nursultan Nazarbayev noted the similarity of the two countries’ positions on regional and international issues. According to him, Kazakhstan and Qatar are working actively to diversify their economies, implementing a wide range of institutional reforms and working to develop infrastructure, industry and innovation. The President of Kazakhstan stressed that these common programmes open up broad prospects for joint work.
He also discussed with the emir the development of Kazakhstan’s significant new transport and logistics potential, linking Europe with the countries of Southeast Asia and creating a new Silk Road reconnecting Eurasia.
Nursultan Nazarbayev also mentioned the upcoming EXPO 2017, to be held in Astana, and urged Qatar to take an active part in the event, and discussed the planned Astana International Financial Centre, which is to be based on British law. Nazarbayev noted that Kazakhstan is interested in developing Islamic financing as well.
The emir, on his part, expressed confidence that the visit would give a powerful impetus to bilateral relations and expressed interest in cooperation on a wide range of issues.