Nazarbayev meets Saudi Arabian Minister of Economy and Planning, UN Deputy Sec Gen

ASTANA. March 11. KAZINFORM Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has held bilateral meetings with Minister of Economy and Planning of Saudi Arabia Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Gusaibi and the UN Deputy Secretary General– Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Jan Kubis within the framework of the II Astana Economic Forum; Kazinform refers to the President?s press service.

The Head of the State and the Minister of Economy and Planning of Saudi Arabia discussed the issues of development of bilateral trade-economic relations. It was noted that opening of a direct flight connection between the two countries can play important role in tuning up business relations. Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Gusaibi informed N.Nazarbayev of agreements on avoidance of double taxation and on cooperation in the education sphere prepared by Kazakh and Saudi Arabian governments. Saudi Arabia is interested in development of investment cooperation with Kazakhstan, in particular, in agriculture, oil and gas, energy and financial sector. N.Nazarbayev and Jan Kubis discussed prospects of development of the Kazakh transport potential. Within the meeting a significance of ?Path to Europe? state program was noted. It is aimed at developing all-round cooperation with the countries of Europe and European structures. According to J.Kubis, the program can become a ?road map? of Kazakhstan?s chairmanship in the OSCE in 2010.