The official visit of U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken to Kazakhstan is very important for the build-up of strategic cooperation between the two countries, according to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who met Blinken in his official residence Akorda.
Tokayev highlighted that Kazakhstan and the U.S. have already built a very good and reliable long-term partnership in so many strategically important areas like security, energy, trade, and investment.
«We are ready to follow up on this cooperation. And taking this opportunity, I would like to express our appreciation for the continuous and firm support of the United States for our independence, territorial integrity, and sovereignty,» the president said.
He also highlighted that with total investments of $62 billion, the U.S. is one of the biggest foreign investors in Kazakhstan.
In turn, Antony Blinken expressed his gratitude to Kazakhstan’s efforts in organizing a meeting of foreign ministers from the five Central Asian states and the U.S. in Astana.
«I look forward to working with our fellow foreign ministers to really engage in even – and ever-more practical work in bringing the region together, creating greater connections, connectivity, and focusing on practical things that we can do to strengthen that work. And I think it will be to the benefit of people living throughout Central Asia, but also to the United States. But we’re committed to that engagement at the highest levels, and I’m just so pleased to be here to advance even further the cooperation that we have,» Blinken said.
The American diplomat has also rated highly all the recent political and economic changes in Kazakhstan. In the conclusion, President Tokayev sent his best regards to President Biden.
Antony Blinken arrived in Kazakhstan on February 28. In the capital city of Astana, he met with Tokayev and the country’s Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi. He is also going to take part in the meeting of foreign ministers of the Central Asian states and the U.S. (С5+1). According to Bloomberg, Blinken’s visit to Central Asia and India is aimed at putting more pressure on Russia.
In September 2022, during his official visit to Kazakhstan President Xi Jinping said that China fully supports the territorial integrity of Kazakhstan. Later in October 2022, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a similar statement about the backing of the territorial integrity of Kazakhstan.
