OREANDA-NEWS. March 20, 2008. In the course of the meeting the sides discussed bilateral relations in trade-and-economic realm.

Today at the Government’s House in Astana, Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Karim Massimov met Prince Al-Walid bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Chairperson of the Kingdom Holding Company Board of Directors.

In the course of the meeting the sides discussed bilateral relations in trade-and-economic realm.

“Kazakhstan places special importance on developing its relations with the Saudi Arabia – one of the powerful states of the Arabic world, and we are interested in expanding our cooperation”, Prime Minister Massimov said.

In particular, Prime Minister pointed to the current potential in development of bilateral relations in the realms of O&G, finance, agriculture, transport and communications, infrastructure development, and tourism.

Prince Al-Walid bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud expressed readiness to participate in implementation of strategically important projects in Kazakhstan. “It would be a testament to the two nations’ intentions to cooperate”, he noted.

To define projects that could be participated by the Kingdom Holding Company as well as to ensure an unbiased conclusion that would take into account interests of the two sides, it was decided to attract McKenzie, a globally renowned management consulting firm which has been cooperating with governments of both nations.

In the course of the meeting the sides agreed on close interaction and on unleashing of the potential to ensure further successful development between Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia.