Saudi crown prince and Kazakhstan president hold talks, review bilateral ties

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held talks with visiting Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Jeddah on Saturday and the two leaders reviewed the bilateral relations between their countries, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The crown prince and Tokayev also discussed enhancing cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan in various fields, and discussed a number of issues of common interest.

The Kazakh leader arrived in Jeddah early Saturday night, and was received at the King Abdulaziz International Airport by Makkah Gov. Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, Environment and Water Minister Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli, and a number of officials.

An official reception ceremony was then held for Tokarev at the Royal Court at Al-Salam Palace, followed by a session of talks.

The session was attended by Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, minister of energy; Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, minister of the National Guard; Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and other officials.

From the Kazakh side were Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mukhtar Tleuberdi; Timur Suleimenov, the first deputy chief of the Presidential Office; Bakhyt Sultanov, deputy prime minister and Minister of Commerce and Integration; Erzhan Kazykhan, deputy presidential chief of staff and special representative of the president for international cooperation ; Energy Minister Bulat Akshulakov; National Wealth Fund chairman Almasadam Satkaliev; Kazakh Ambassador Berek Arin and a number of officials.

Earlier, the Saudi Ministry of Investment said it was organizing  the Saudi-Kazakh Investment Forum on Sunday, with President Tokayev and Saudi investment Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih attending.

The dialogue will also discuss the most promising investment sectors between the two countries in petrochemicals, renewable energy, water desalination, mining, and food security, as well as major projects related to the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, SPA also reported.

A number of investment agreements and memoranda of understanding between the two sides are also expected to be signed, the report added.