Kazakhstan's President Expresses Hope for 'New Level' in Relations With US

ALMATY (Sputnik) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev expressed hope for the intensive development of relations with the United States during meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the president's press service said in a statement Monday.

"[Nazarbayev] expressed hope that the cooperation between Kazakhstan and the United States on many aspects will move to a qualitatively new level," the statement read.

According to the document, Nazarbayev and Tillerson exchanged the opinions on the key international issues.

"During the meeting, Nursultan Nazarbayev and the state secretary of the United States discussed the current state and prospects of the development of a number of aspects of the bilateral cooperation," the statement added.

The meeting of the two leaders took place on the sidelines of the Arab Islamic American Summit held in Saudi capital of Riyadh.

The relations between the United States and Kazakhstan are mainly based on cooperation in the spheres of security and nuclear non-proliferation. Apart from that, according to the White House, Kazakhstan is the 83rd largest importer of goods from the United States and the 69th largest exporter of goods to the United States, with a total of $2.4 billion in two-way trade in 2014. Between 1993 and 2013, the US companies invested more than $42 billion in Kazakhstan, according to the official figures.