Indo-Kazakh ties have evolved into firm strategic partnership: PM

Astana (Kazakhstan), Apr 15(ANI): Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Friday said that the political, economic, trade and people-to-people contacts between India and Kazakhstan have graduated to evolve into a firm strategic partnership.

When asked about his views of current status and prospects of political and strategic cooperation between India and Kazakhstan, Dr. Singh, who arrived in Kazakhstan capital Astana today for his first bilateral visit to the country, said: "Relations between India and Kazakhstan go back in history and have been marked by warmth and friendliness in modern times. The "Silk route" brought our peoples much closer through trade and culture. Our countries represent multi-ethnic, diverse societies and shared oriental values, culture, traditions and even food. So, we consider ourselves natural friends and enjoy a huge reservoir of mutual goodwill."

"India was one of the first countries in the world to recognize the independence of Kazakhstan and to establish diplomatic relations. During the visit of [Kazakh] President [Nursultan] Nazarbaev to India as the Chief Guest for our Republic Day celebrations in January 2009, a joint declaration on strategic partnership was adopted and it has become the guiding document for consolidation of our bilateral cooperation with Kazakhstan," he added.

Dr. Singh also stressed that Nazarbaev's visit provided a significant impetus to their relationship at all levels.

"We have had an intensive exchange of delegations to each other's countries for exploring possibilities to enhance cooperation. I met President Nazarbayev twice in recent years at various multilateral events and our External Affairs Minister was in Astana last year to craft a plan charting the future course of our cooperation in all strategic sectors of mutual interest," Dr. Singh.

The Prime Minister further said that he and Nazarbaev will review the status of bilateral cooperation and discuss the roadmap for future cooperation.

"Our views on regional and global issues converge and we have been supportive of each other's initiatives at the international fora and have also been cooperating within the aegis of multilateral bodies like the United Nations, Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation," he added.

Dr. Singh was replying to questions by Kazakh newspapers "Kazakhstanskaya Pravda" and "Egemen Kazakhstan". By Naveen KapoorANI)