OREANDA-NEWS. On June 26, 2008 Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker had private talks after official welcome ceremony held in the Akorda Palace, reported the Official website www.akorda.kz.

“We are pleased to greet you, the well known supporter of European integration, during your first official visit to Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev said opening the meeting.

The Prime Minister of Luxembourg thanked the President for the warm welcome and noted that Kazakhstan is a key player in the region of Central Asia.

“Your country is not a “consumer”, your country is a “generator” of stability and sustainability in this complex region,” Jean-Claude Juncker noted.

Extended talks were held after the private meeting between the two leaders. The sides discussed issues of bilateral relations and integration processes.

Nursultan Nazarbayev underscored the important role of the European Union to Kazakhstan in economic and political areas and pointed out that the EU is the largest trade partner of Kazakhstan.

“We are going to strengthen our relations with the European Union and with every country – EU member in order to turn our cooperation into the form of strategic partnership,” the President said.

Nursultan Nazarbayev expressed his confidence that this official visit would give a new impulse to the development of bilateral ties between Kazakhstan and Luxembourg and would allow increasing the mutual commodity turnover that now does not correspond to the possibilities of the two countries.

The Prime Minister of Luxembourg said that he was impressed with the progress and achievements our country had made.

“Here in Astana, we can see that Kazakhstan is a country, which indeed develops and moves forward and can be an example for other countries in this crucial region,” Jean-Claude Juncker noted.

Having completed their talks, President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker made short statements for media representatives.

The President summarized the visit’s outcomes and noted that our countries have a great potential for cooperation.

“Our views coincide on major matters of international policy and this gives us a hope for successful cooperation between Kazakhstan and Luxembourg,” Nursultan Nazarbayev said.

The Prime Minister of Luxembourg noted that an agreement on significant increasing the commodity turnover between our countries was achieved during the visit. Jean-Claude Juncker also said that Kazakhstan has made a great progress especially in the area of maintaining international and inter-confessional accord.

“Kazakhstan’s domestic stability is impressive. I think this model deserves to be studied by other countries,” Jean-Claude Juncker noted.

President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and Prime Minister of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker adopted a joint statement summarizing the visit’s outcomes.