Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev will pay an official visit to Vietnam from October 31 to November 1 at the invitation of President Truong Tan Sang.

The visit, which is the first by a high-ranking leader of Kazakhstan to Vietnam , represents Kazakhstan ’s wish to boost multi-faceted cooperation with Vietnam , especially in politics, economics, culture and education.

The two sides will discuss regional and international issues of common concern as well as measures to strengthen coordination in the international arena.

The visit is expected to open up an effective cooperation between the two countries.

Since Vietnam recognised Kazakhstan as an independent nation and set up diplomatic ties with the country on September 26, 1992, the political relations between the two nations have developed fruitfully.

The two countries have closely coordinated and supported each other at the UN and other international forums. Kazakhstan actively backed Vietnam ’s admission to the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in 2010.

The two countries have vowed to support each other in their bids to become members of the UN Human Rights Council in the coming time.

Kazakhstan highly values Vietnam ’s renewal achievements and its position in Southeast Asia and the world. The two countries have recognised each other as market economies.

Despite numerous potentials and strengths, the economic-trade cooperation between the two countries remains modest with two-way trade reaching only 38 million USD in 2010.

The Vietnam-Kazakhstan Inter-Governmental Committee for Economic, Trade, Scientific and Technological Cooperation has convened five sessions so far. The fifth session of the committee took place in Astana , Kazakhstan with the signing of the Vietnam-Kazakhstan Joint Action Plan for 2011-2013./.