Iran, Kazakhstan Presidents discuss expansion of ties

The Iranian and Kazakh presidents on Tuesday discussed ways of expanding Tehran-Astana relations.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev, met and conferred prior to the 10th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, that is to open on Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi, The President’s Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie and Presidential Advisor Mojtaba Hashemi are accompanying Ahmadinejad in the two-day meeting.

The SCO summit is expected to finalize an agreement on healthcare, unveil an anti-drugs strategy for 2011 to 2016 and set out other areas of economic cooperation.

Founded in Shanghai in 2001, SCO comprises six member states of Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, four observer states of Pakistan, Iran, India and Mongolia and two dialogue partners of Sri Lanka and Belarus.