NUR-SULTAN -- Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan's former long-time president, met with US Ambassador to Kazakhstan William H. Mozer to discuss co-operation, Kazinform reported Monday (May 13), citing Nazarbayev's press office.
Nazarbayev resigned in March, appointing former senate speaker and diplomat Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as interim president. Presidential elections are scheduled for June.
"In all these years, we and the US have built relations based on mutual trust and friendship," Nazarbayev said.
"Kazakhstan has attracted big investments from the US. There are 420 active joint enterprises," he said. "My visit to Washington last year, when I had talks with President Trump ... enabled us to create conditions for further development of our co-operation."
"The US is an important partner of Kazakhstan," said Nazarbayev.
Mozer highlighted Kazakhstan's progress in building Nur-Sultan and extended a letter from Trump to Nazarbayev expressing support for the peaceful transition of power.
During a tenure that dated back to Soviet times, Nazarbayev faced various security challenges, including how to deal with the radicalisation of hundreds of Kazakhs who joined the "Islamic State" (IS) in Syria and Iraq.
