The visiting Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his accompanying delegation met the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei on Monday, October 15.
Speaking at the meeting, which was also attended by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Leader referred to the good relations between Iran and Kazakhstan and pointed out that the existing relations have great potential for further expansion.
Ayatollah Khamenei expressed hope that the implementation of the useful and constructive agreements reached in Tehran would help to further expand the bilateral relations between the two countries. He also stressed that the unity between the countries sharing commonalities is the secret of their power.
"Kazakhstan is a vast country with various resources, and it shares many cultural and religious commonalities with Iran. Therefore, cooperation between the two countries will be beneficial to both sides, and the Islamic Republic of Iran welcomes the expansion of bilateral relations," the Leader told the Kazakh president.
Ayatollah Khamenei also stated, "It is clear that some powers such as the United States are opposed to this expansion of relations. But the Islamic Republic of Iran in its cooperation with different countries, especially with regional countries, considers its own interests as well as the interests of the Islamic world and regional nations."
Further in his statements, the Leader of the Islamic Republic referred to the summit of the Caspian Sea littoral states in Tehran as the appropriate groundwork for the expansion of relations between regional countries. He pointed out that Iran is in a good and favorable position now, and that despite the pressures exerted by certain powers, it has achieved considerable progress over the past years.
Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, for his part, expressed great pleasure over his meeting with the Leader of the Islamic Republic. He described his negotiations with President Ahmadinejad in Tehran as marked by sincerity and beneficial.
President Nazarbayev further said that his country is desirous of expanding its relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, since it views Iran as a great and powerful country in the region.
Referring to Iran's logical position on the nuclear issue, the Kazakh president pointed out that all countries have a right to the peaceful utilization of nuclear energy.