Kazakhstan, US discuss trade cooperation

Kazakhstan and the United States emphasized the importance of bilateral cooperation in trade and investment during talks here Tuesday, Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry said. It was in the interests of Kazakhstan to include U.S. companies in its industrial development, Kazakhstan Foreign Minister Yerlan Idrisov said during a meeting with visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal. The two discussed the results of talks between Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama during the Nuclear Security Summit on March 24-25 in the Hague, as well as conditions and prospects for development of political and economic cooperation between the two countries, the ministry said. Since 1993, U.S. investment in Kazakhstan's economy reportedly totaled 25 billion U.S. dollars and trade between the two countries amounted to 2.75 billion dollars in 2013, up 9 percent on 2012. During their meeting, the two sides achieved mutual understanding on the necessity of further expanding and deepening their strategic partnership. Biswal gave a speech at the Eurasian National University during her stay and will visit Almaty on Wednesday.