Kazakhstan and Japan enjoy close friendship - President

ASTANA. KAZINFORM Kazakhstan and Japan are distant neighbors, but close friends, Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev said in the course of negotiations with Japanese Premier Sinzho Abe.

"We say that Kazakhstan and Japan are distant neighbors, but close friends. All-round development of relations with your country has been one of our foreign policy priorities \ since the first years of independence," the President said. The Head of State noted that Astana and Tokyo enjoy reliable partnership to date. "We have always supported each other and we have much in common. We are allies in nuclear disarmament and nuclear weapons non-proliferation as well as in peaceful use of nuclear energy. Astana is a bright symbol of friendship between our nations. Outstanding Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa greatly contributed to the development of our capital city," N.Nazarbayev added. According to him, in 2013-2014 bilateral commodity turnover made about 2 bln U.S. dollars. "In the first half of 2015 this indicator made 600 mln U.S. dollars. In ten years, the volume of Japanese investment in our economy made around 5 bln U.S. dollars. Besides, Japan provided 1 bln 200 mln U.S. dollars to our country as part of official aid," N. Nazarbayev concluded.