Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who left Ankara early on Thursday for Astana attended the 17th Meeting of the Heads of State Council (HoSC) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
The event kicked off early on Friday in Kazakh capital city of Astana and, during the meetings, the Iranian top diplomat met with a host of officials from the member statesof the organization.
Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of Kazakhstan was among the officials Zarif met with in Astana. During the meeting Zarif and Nazarbayev exchanged views on the ways to expand and develop bilateral cooperation between Iran and Kazakhstan.
Stressing on all-out expansion of ties with Iran, the Kazakh president described Iran as a strategic partner and neighbor in the region.
Referring to the growing spread of terrorism in the region and the world, Nazarbayev demanded a unanimous measure to counter the problem.
The Iranian foreign minister also in this meeting delivered the message of greetings and friendship from the Iranian president to the president of Kazakhstan and congratulated him on simultaneous holding of the International Expo 2017 and the 17th Meeting of the Heads of State Council (HoSC) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Astana.
“Developing and expanding relations with neighbor states is of important goals of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Kazakhstan holds an important position among Iran’s neighbors,” asserted the Iranian foreign minister.
On the sidelines of the events in Astana, Mr. Zarif also met with his Uzbek counterpart, Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov, his Kyrgyz counterpart, Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldaev, and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
Later, in the afternoon, after the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was wrapped up, Mr. Zarif left Astana for Tehran.
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