BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 27. Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov held a meeting with the minister of Hajj and Umrah of Saudi Arabia Tawfig Al-Rabiah, Trend reports via the press service of the Kazakh government.
The sides discussed issues of expanding cooperation in the field of tourism, culture and civil aviation.
Smailov noted that friendly and constructive relations have been established between Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia over the past years.
"Muslims around the world are waiting impatiently for the opportunity to perform Hajj. This year, 4,000 Kazakhstanis also received such a right. This became possible thanks to the attention and efforts of the leadership of Saudi Arabia,” he said.
He also thanked the representatives of Saudi Arabia for their active participation in the VII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions held in Astana.
"I'm confident that cooperation between both countries will continue to expand and strengthen," Smailov added.
In turn, Tawfig Al-Rabiah noted that the opening of regular flights would give an additional impetus to the strengthening of bilateral relations.
"During the visit, I held a number of fruitful meetings with Kazakh officials. Saudi Arabia hopes that the opening of direct regular flights will contribute to an increase in the number of tourists and pilgrims from Kazakhstan,” he stated.