U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev at the White House on January 16, the White House has said.
A White House statement on January 9 said the two leaders "will discuss ways to strengthen and enhance our strategic partnership on regional security issues and economic cooperation."
Kazakhstan's ambassador to the United Nations, Kairat Umarov, on January 1 took over the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council and has already overseen contentious debates over street protests in Iran and other matters.
The White House said Trump and Nazarbaev will discuss several international challenges, including Afghanistan, that are expected to come before the Security Council during Kazakhstan's tenure.
Earlier on January 9, Nazarbaev met with U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan George Krol in Astana and said he was seeking to build on the "amicable relationship" the two countries have established in the last 26 years, Nazarbaev's office said in a statement, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
Nazarbaev said he hoped to further cooperate with Washington in the fight against terrorism and in strengthening nuclear nonproliferation and expanding trade and investment, the statement said.
"About 500 companies with U.S. participation are working in Kazakhstan, and more than 140 of them are joint ventures. They are manufacturing goods and exporting their products to other countries," Nazarbaev was quoted as saying by Interfax.