ASTANA, Kazakhstan 

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Monday received Turkish parliamentary speaker Numan Kurtulmus in the capital Astana.

During the meeting held at the Kazakh presidential palace, Kurtulmus and Tokayev exchanged views on strengthening cooperation between their countries within the framework of international organizations and increasing the mutual solidarity between members of the Organization of Turkic States.

The two also discussed the expanded strategic partnership between Türkiye and Kazakhstan, as well as bilateral relations.

Expressing that Kazakhstan is the homeland of Turkic poet Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, Kurtulmus said that he will attend a conference at the International Kazakh-Turkish University, named after the poet, in the city of Turkestan.

He further said that successful political, economic, and social reforms have been made in Kazakhstan and that he thinks all these will have a positive impact on the development of the country.

He also emphasized that cooperation between Türkiye and Kazakhstan will become even stronger in the future, indicating the two countries have great potential in the fields of trade, technology, industry, logistics, energy and agriculture.

For his part, Tokayev said he highly appreciates the potential of parliamentary diplomacy between the two countries and pointed out the importance of Kurtulmus' visit to Kazakhstan.

Tokayev said that Kurtulmus' visit has symbolic meaning as it takes place on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the friendship and cooperation agreement between Türkiye and Kazakhstan.

Recalling that he spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the phone recently and that they are always in contact, Tokayev further said that bilateral dialogue has developed very well for this reason.

He went on to say that Türkiye generally is one of the five largest trade partners of Kazakhstan and among the top 10 investors in the country, adding he has no doubt that their bilateral trade volume will reach $10 billion.

*Writing by Burc Eruygur in Istanbul