TURKISH INTEREST IN KAZAKHSTAN REAFFIRMED.

Turkish president Suleyman Demirel yesterday completed a two-day official visit to Kazakhstan on the fifth anniversary of the country’s independence. (See Monitor, December 17) Demirel agreed to open a Turkish credit line of $300 million, on top of the $1.2 billion already invested by mostly small- and medium-size Turkish firms in Kazakhstan. He also cut the ribbon of a Turkish bank and a Turkish-funded college in Almaty, and discussed with President Nursultan Nazarbaev the participation of Turkish companies in building up Kazakhstan’s new capital city Akmola. Nazarbaev expressed the wish that the largest Turkish firms also invest in Kazakhstan. He praised Turkey for "standing by Kazakhstan at every step of its development as an independent state." Approximately 2,000 young Kazakhs are studying in Turkey. The two presidents termed their peoples "fraternal" on the strength of their common Turkic origins. (Interfax, Western agencies, December 16-17)

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