DUSHANBE, July 7, 2008, Asia-Plus — Along with leaders of a number of other countries President Emomali Rahmon attended celebrations in Astana to mark the 10th anniversary of Astana as the capital city of Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan staged gala events on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Astana as Kazakhstan’s capital city on July 5.
According to presidential press service, the gala meeting on this occasion in Astana was attended, apart from the Tajik leader, by the presidents of Armenia Serzh Sarkisyan, Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili, Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Russia Dmitry Medvedev, Turkmenistan Qurbangulu Beridymukhammedov and Turkey Abdullah Gul as well as by Jordanian King Abdullah II.
We will recall that ten years ago, President Nursultan Nazarbayev decided to move the Kazakh capital from Almaty to the city of Akmola, later renamed Astana.
An informal meeting of the heads of state focused related to economic and cultural cooperation as well as addressing modern challenges and threats in the Eurasian space.
During his stay in Astana, President Rahmon held bilateral meetings with the presidents of Russia, Turkmenistan, and Turkey on July 5.
A major topic of Rahmon’s meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation between Tajikistan and Russia in different fields.
Similar issues were discussed during a meeting of Emomali Rahmon with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov.
The same day, Rahmon held talks with his Turkish counterpart, President Abdullah Gul. In the course of the talks, the two discussed state and prospects of further expansion of cooperation between Tajikistan and Turkey both in bilateral format and within regional and international organizations.
Expressing satisfaction with legal foundation of relationships between the two countries and present level of Tajik-Turkish trade that exceeded $500 million last year, Rahmon and Gul, however, noted that that there is room for expansion of bilateral ties. Both sides vowed to boost bilateral relations. Considerable attention was paid to expansion of cultural cooperation between Tajikistan and Turkey.
Abdullah Gul invited Emomali Rahmon to take part at the World Water Forum that will be held in Turkey in March of the next year.
The two also exchanged views on a number of issues related to providing regional and international and regional security as well as addressing modern challenges and threats.
On July 6, Emomali Rahmon also congratulated his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev, the host of the meeting, on his birthday.
