Kazakhstan, Astana, July 3 / Trend, D. Mukhtarov /
On Tuesday, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev received U.S. Congressmen Dan Burton and Gregory Meeks, Ak-Orda said.
The meeting discussed a wide range of issues of trade and economic, as well as international development.
"I welcome you in Kazakhstan. Over the entire twenty years of independence, we are actively cooperating with the United States in all areas of our mutual relationship. A year after declaring independence, I visited your country, where I met with U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush. Together, we discussed various issues of support to establishment of independent Kazakhstan, including the issues of nuclear disarmament - as you know, we had a large arsenal of nuclear weapons and nuclear testing facility.
Since then, many years have passed, much has changed in the world - we have become well-known and respected state. Today we are a developed country and our goal is to be among developed countries in 2020-2025," Nazarbayev said.
"We would like to express gratitude for the warm welcome. I would especially like to mention how great successes Kazakhstan, especially Astana, has reached over 20 years of independence. I know that many were against the idea of moving the capital, but time has shown that it was the right choice," Burton said.
Strategic partnership, characterized by extensive interaction on the entire spectrum of bilateral relations has been established between Kazakhstan and the United States. In 2011 the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and the United States totaled $2.74 billion, which is 26 percent more that the figure of 2010.