Kazakh, Finnish Leaders negotiating in Helsinki

HELSINKI. March 24. KAZINFORM /Yernur Akanbai/ President Nursultan Nazarbayev who arrived in Helsinki with a state visit has had a meeting with his Finnish counterpart Tarja Halonen today.

After the ceremony of acquaintance the heads of the countries had talks in narrow format. At present the presidents are negotiating in extended format. A number of documents are expected to be signed following the talks. The diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Finland were established on May 13, 1992. According to the data of the Kazakh MFA the official ties between the leaderships of both countries were tuned up in September 1992 when President of Finland Mauno Koivisto visited Kazakhstan with an official visit. The countries have similar views on key international issues. Finland supports Kazakhstan's accession to the WTO and stands for development of transport routes connecting Kazakhstan and Europe.