Saudi signs nuclear deal with Kazakhstan

Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan have signed a nuclear deal as part of a new deal to improve bilateral relations between the two countries.

King Salman received President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan in Riyadh yesterday to sign 16 mutual agreements in various different areas of commerce and agriculture.

Dr Hashim Yamani, the president of King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, and Kazakhstan’s Minister of Energy, Kanat Bozumbayev, singed a deal that would see the two countries cooperating in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

A memorandum of understanding was also signed in the fields of agriculture and livestock, water and agriculture, in the extradition of wanted persons and another in the transfer of prisoners.

Nazarbayev also met with a group of leading Saudi businessmen before he wrapped up his two-day visit.

Kazakhstan, with a 70 per cent Muslim population, is a natural ally of Saudi. It is also a member of the Jeddah-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Nazarbayev first arrived in the holy city of Madinah, where he met and held talks with Governor Prince Faisal bin Salman before heading to Riyadh.

The envoy said that Kazakhstan sees Saudi Arabia,“as an important political and economic partner in the Middle East and the entire Islamic world.”