BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 26. President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev paid an official visit to Azerbaijan on August 24, Trend reports.
During the visit, Tokayev held a number of meetings, including negotiations with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in a narrow and expanded format.
Besides, during the visit, the parties signed a number of important agreements aimed at developing bilateral relations.
Kazakh political expert Zamir Karazhanov commenting on the issue said that there have always been very warm and close relations between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
“The visit of the president of Kazakhstan only confirms that the trust and cooperation which we have developed remains at a rather high level. The visit once again confirms the trend in the development of relations between our countries. In this case, we see a trend aimed at expanding and deepening the cooperation,” Karazhanov noted.
Speaking about the importance of signing the list of bilateral documents, he pointed out that in this way, Kazakhstan is betting on Azerbaijan.
“There is laid foundation for future cooperation between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan,” the expert said.
He also noted that the very fact of the visit of the head of state already indicates that relations between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are developing with a positive trend.
“The relations between our countries continue to strengthen. In the future, cooperation with Azerbaijan will be given priority,” Karazhanov said.
According to the expert, the current geopolitical situation is rather complicated, and the Central Asian countries are among those which are negatively affected by it.
“Azerbaijan is a gateway for us towards Europe or Türkiye, for us now it’s quite an important issue, since we are also exporting grain and it’s very important whether there is no problem for us to supply this product or not in the future,” he said.
Karazhanov noted that in this sense, Azerbaijan has acquired special significance for the countries of Central Asia.
Director of the Economic Policy Institute, Member of the National Council of Public Trust under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kairbek Arystanbekov noted that this visit is a key one in relations between the two countries.
According to him, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are integrated within the framework of cooperation between the Caspian states, and the countries are closely cooperating through the Turkic Council.
"In this context, the signing of a package of agreements undoubtedly reflects the national interest of both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan," he said.
The analyst also pointed out that Azerbaijan is an important channel for the supply of Kazakh products to European markets.
"Therefore, we must strengthen our cooperation and effectively use our ports, trade and economic ties, and others," concluded Arystanbekov.