Iran, Kazakhstan keen to broaden parliamentary ties

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular, Parliamentary and Expatriates’ Affairs Hassan Qashqavi and Head of the Kazakh Parliament’s International, Defense and Security Affairs Committee Suolen Ashymbayev in a meeting in Tehran on Monday explored avenues for bolstering and reinvigorating bilateral ties, specially in parliamentary fields. During the meeting, Qashqavi and Ashymbayev underlined the need for the further expansion of parliamentary ties. The Iranian deputy foreign minister pointed to the new Iranian government’s emphasis on the expansion of ties with the neighboring countries, specially the Central Asian states, and said that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s participation in President Hassan Rouhani’s inaugural ceremony and their “constructive talks” on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Bishkek is a clear indication of the determination of the two countries’ high-ranking officials to expand their ties in all fields. Qashqavi underlined that parliamentary cooperation and diplomacy can help the regional countries achieve their goals in confronting extremism and terrorism. Ashymbayev, for his part, pointed to Iran-Kazakhstan expanding ties in all areas, and underlined the need for increasing the volume of economic transactions between the two countries. Earlier this week, Iranian Parliament Speaker’s advisor for international affairs Hossein Sheikholeslam Sheikholeslam pointed to the visit of Ashymbayev and his accompanying delegation to Iran, and said expansion of parliamentary relations between the two friendly nations and discussion of the current international and regional issues would be among the main topics of the talks between the Kazakh delegation and Iranian officials. Tehran has been after the expansion of cooperation and interactions with its neighbors, specially the Central Asia, in the recent decades.