Kazakh president planning to visit Iran

Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev has a plan to pay an official visit to Iran in the first half of this year to pave the ground for the further promotion of Tehran-Astana ties, the country's deputy foreign minister said.
In a meeting between Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim Rahimpour and his Kazakh counterpart on Sunday, the two sides said Nazarbayev's visit to Iran will be very constructive to coordinate efforts to enhance relations between Tehran and Astana.
The officials also exchanged views on upcoming visit of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to Astana in the first half of 2015.
In September, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani announced that Tehran and Astana are planning to start a considerable boost in their trade transactions.
"We intend to gradually increase the volume of Tehran-Astana trade exchanges by up to five times," President Rouhani told reporters in Astana at the time.
The Iranian president pointed to the grounds on which the two nations plan to widen their ties and exchanges, and said, "The two countries will increase their cooperation in different areas, including energy and transportation."
Prsident Rouhani also referred to the launch of Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway, and said, "Kazakhstan can transit around five million tons of its export commodities to Iran's Southern ports per year once the new Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway starts operation."
Iran and Kazakhstan also signed several cooperation pacts during in different areas during President Rouhani's visit to that country in September.