Islamabad (TDI): Islamabad welcomed Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Tuesday for a two-day official visit aimed at strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries.
Kazakhstan is Pakistan’s largest export destination in Central Asia, and both nations share a history of friendly diplomatic relations. President Tokayev arrived with a high-level delegation, including senior cabinet ministers and top officials.
The President’s Secretariat announced that President Asif Ali Zardari will confer the Nishan-i-Pakistan, the country’s highest civilian honour, on the leaders of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan’s President is scheduled to visit Pakistan later this month.
According to the Foreign Office, President Tokayev will hold meetings with President Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and is also slated to address the Pakistan-Kazakhstan Business Forum. The visit is expected to provide both Islamabad and Astana a “timely opportunity to undertake a comprehensive review” of their bilateral relationship.
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Discussions are likely to focus on expanding cooperation in trade, logistics, regional connectivity, and people-to-people exchanges, as well as exploring joint initiatives in regional and international forums.
The visit is being seen as mutually beneficial. For Pakistan, it strengthens Islamabad’s role as a strategic land bridge connecting Central and South Asia. For Kazakhstan, it offers a chance to diversify its international trade amid ongoing uncertainties in Eurasia following the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Earlier, Kazakh Minister of Science and Higher Education Sayasat Nurbek had visited Pakistan. On Monday, eight memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were signed between higher education institutions of the two countries to foster joint research, faculty and student exchanges, collaborative academic programs, and capacity-building projects.
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As part of the collaboration, Kazakhstan educational centres were inaugurated at three public universities in Islamabad.
This visit follows the signing of an Action Plan of Cooperation during the visit of then-Kazakh Deputy Premier Murat Nurtleu in September, which aimed to further deepen bilateral ties.
