Azernews.Az

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said Thursday after holding talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Almaty that the Central Asian state considers Azerbaijan a key economic and strategic partner in the Caucasus region, Kazinform news agency reported.

Presidents Nazarbayev said Aliyev stressed that Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are friendly and fraternal countries.

Nazarbayev noted Azerbaijan’s great economic and political achievements since gaining independence 20 years ago.

"Our countries have passed the years of independence worthily," he said. "These years can be considered realization of our ancestors' dream of independence."

Aliyev, for his part, praised Kazakhstan's impressive accomplishments in all spheres.

"Kazakhstan's success is seen in the appearance of your cities and its new capital, Astana," Aliyev said. "This is a shining example of how the city can be built in a short period of time."

The presidents said Kazakh-Azerbaijani trade turnover surged by nearly 60 percent in 2010, but the total trade volume of $350 million per year is still below potential. They said transport, agriculture and trade projects should help to boost bilateral trade in the future.

Nazarbayev said Kazakh-Azerbaijani cooperation in the fields of energy and transporting oil, and Kazakhstan’s using the Caspian Sea as a hub for access to the Black Sea and Europe are the most important issues in bilateral cooperation.

"We are neighbors in the Caspian Sea, and problems of the Caspian are our common problems," Nazarbayev said. "Our collaboration in industries, as well as the oil and gas sector, in which Azerbaijan has extensive experience, has great prospects."

According to the Kazakh president, there are good prospects for transport cooperation as well.

"Azerbaijan will in the future turn into one of the important transport arteries for the exports of Kazakhstan’s oil and other goods. Construction of a new railway from Turkey through Georgia and Azerbaijan toward the Caspian Sea will pave the way for transit of cargo through Kazakhstan to China and the other way around."

Nazarbayev also pointed to the potential of cooperation with Azerbaijan in the agriculture sector.

"We talked today about delivering fruits and vegetables from Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan’s western provinces. These provinces should cooperate with Azerbaijan on a mutually beneficial basis."

In conclusion of the talks, the two leaders signed a joint declaration. Also, a protocol on cooperation between the two countries’ foreign ministries, an agreement on mutual allocation of land plots for building diplomatic offices in the two countries and an agreement on cooperation in the field of maritime transport were signed.