ASTANA (IRNA) -- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday in Astana said that Iran-Kazakhstan ties have a bright future.

Iranian president noted that bilateral relations can be further developed through consensus and planning.
According to a report posted on the Presidential Office website, Ahmadinejad and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazabayev described the opportunities and facilities in both countries as beneficial for them and the region.
“Iran’s ties with Kazakhstan are rooted in culture and national interests,” he said, adding that bilateral ties have followed a growing trend in the past 18 years.
Referring to various areas of cooperation, he said that both Tehran and Astana underline the need to develop ties in the fields of energy, transportation, joint investment in agriculture and confronting global crisis.
He stated that Kazakhstan’s status is growing in the world adding that Iran will support its independence and progress.
Nazarbayev, for his part, described Ahmadinejad’s first official visit to the country as a historical event and said that implementation of the agreements reached by the two countries will mark a new chapter in the expansion of bilateral ties.
He further underlined that Tehran and Astana have great potentials for upgrading commercial exchanges.