AFP: Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad is due to arrive in Kazakhstan on Monday for his first state visit to the neighbouring Central Asian nation, the Kazakh foreign ministry said.
ASTANA (AFP) — Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad is due to arrive in Kazakhstan on Monday for his first state visit to the neighbouring Central Asian nation, the Kazakh foreign ministry said.
"It is expected that the President of Iran on Monday will arrive for an official visit in Kazakhstan," a ministry spokesman told AFP on Friday.
The two-day visit will include talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev expected to touch on a range of issues including regional security cooperation and fishing rights in the Caspian Sea, which both states border.
The plight of sturgeon populations in the Caspian Sea became an international environmental issue and cause for embarrassment after the fish were pushed to the brink of extinction for their lucrative black caviar.
The two predominantly Muslim countries have extensive trade ties, and are currently cooperating on the construction of a massive rail link through Central Asia which will connect the Islamic Republic with Russia.
