Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday for a two-day official visit as the two nations seek to bolster bilateral ties further.

The two countries maintain friendly diplomatic relations, with Kazakhstan being Pakistan’s top export destination among Central Asian countries.

The Kazakh president is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising senior cabinet ministers and other high-ranking officials.

In a handout issued earlier in the day, the President’s Secretariat said that President Asif Ali Zardari will confer the Nishan-i-Pakistan, the country’s highest civilian award, on the Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan presidents; the latter is expected to visit the country later this month.

According to the Foreign Office (FO), President Tokayev is expected to meet with President Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, as well as address the Pakistan-Kazakhstan Business Forum.

President Tokayev’s visit will provide Islamabad and Astana “an important and timely opportunity to undertake a comprehensive review” of bilateral relations, the FO had highlighted.

It added that the two sides will discuss new avenues for broadening cooperation, particularly in trade, logistics, regional connectivity and people-to-people contacts, as well as explore collaboration at regional and international forums.

This visit is seen as a win-win situation by both countries. For Pakistan, it will help Islamabad position itself as a land bridge between Central and South Asia and beyond. For Kazakhstan, it will help diversify its international trade amid turbulence in Eurasia in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Kazakh Minister of Science and Higher Education Sayasat Nurbek was already on a visit to Pakistan.

Eight memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were signed on Monday between the higher education institutions of the two countries to promote joint research collaboration, faculty and student exchanges, collaborative academic programmes, and capacity-building initiatives.

As part of the collaboration, Kazakhstan educational centres were inaugurated at three public sector universities in Islamabad.

In September, when then-Kazakh deputy premier Murat Nurtleu visited Pakistan, the two sides signed the Action Plan of Cooperation to boost bilateral ties.