Ukrainian president visits Kazakhstan on relations, eastern Ukrainian crisis

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Friday made his first official visit to Kazakshtan intended to advance bilateral economic ties and discuss the eastern Ukraine issue with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

In a meeting held during the visit, the two presidents discussed how to improve bilateral cooperation in coal industry, transportation and logistics, and exchanged views on the situation in eastern Ukraine and the implementation of the Minsk agreements, according to Kazakhstan's presidential press service.

Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Nazarbayev said both Ukraine and Russia support a peaceful solution to the crisis in eastern Ukraine, and that the overall implementation of the Minsk agreements is satisfying, Kazakhstan's news agency Kazinform reported.

Poroshenko thanked Nazarbayev for his efforts in solving the eastern Ukraine crisis, and said that is in need of supplies of coal, oil and gas from Kazakhstan, expressing the belief that bilateral cooperation therein will be in realization of a win-win situation.

He said Ukraine is also interested in cooperation with Kazakhstan in agriculture engineering, food industry and the information industry. Endi