Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said Pakistan was keen to expand trade, investment, people-to-people exchanges and regional connectivity with Kazakhstan.

The prime minister made these remarks during a meeting with Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu, who is on his first two-day official visit to Pakistan, accompanied by a ministerial delegation.

Welcoming the Kazakh dignitary, Prime Minister Shehbaz conveyed his warm wishes for President Kassym Jomart-Tokayev, whom he had recently met in China.

He said Pakistan attached great importance to the Kazakh President’s upcoming visit to Islamabad later this year, adding that Islamabad was ready to dispatch a delegation to Astana to finalise key MoUs and agreements currently under discussion.

Nurtleu thanked PM Shehbaz for the hospitality and underscored that President Tokayev’s upcoming visit would be “historic and successful,” opening a new chapter in bilateral relations.

Earlier in the day, Nurtleu held detailed talks with Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar.

The meeting with PM Shehbaz was also attended by federal ministers for communications, economic affairs, and railways, Special Assistant to the PM Tariq Fatemi, and the foreign secretary.