Kazakhstan, Astana, March 2 / Trend D. Mukhtarov/
France is interested in deepening of strategic partnership with Kazakhstan, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in an interview with Trend.
"The purpose of my visit to Astana, considering the wishes of President Francois Hollande is deepening of the strategic partnership between the two countries, further development of bilateral relations in all fields, especially in economics," Laurent Fabius said.
Within his visit to Kazakhstan, Fabius is scheduled to meet with President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and later he will hold negotiations with Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov and his Kazakh counterpart Yerlan Idrisov.
Laurent Fabius recalled that an agreement on strategic partnership has been signed between the two countries.
"This document does not exist only on paper, it is also backed by concrete actions. Today Kazakhstan is an important partner of France on a number of negotiation processes touching upon such topical issues, as the future of Afghanistan, Iran's nuclear program, as well as the situation in Syria. We believe we should together counter such threats as terrorism," Fabius said.
He said that during the meetings in Astana great attention will be given to the discussion of economic cooperation.
"In recent years, we have seen a marked and sustained growth of the economy of Kazakhstan. We see that your president has set the task to diversify the country's economy before the government making an emphasis on involvement of innovations. In this respect, French companies can bring their contribution to this program.
During the negotiations, representatives of the companies, who accompanied me, intend to discuss their participation in concrete joint projects," Fabius said.