Kazakhstan to continue 'multifaceted foreign policy': Nazarbayev

Moscow, Jan 11 (UNI) Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev today said his country would continue to follow ''multifaceted foreign policy'' in international arena.

''We are a country that is located in the centre of the Eurasian continent. Our goal is to pursue a multi-vector policy governed by the economic and political interests of our country,'' Mr Nazabayev said while introducing his newly appointed Foreign Minister Marat Tazhin to the Ministry's staff following a major reshuffle in the Cabinet, with new Prime Minister Karim Masimov.

''We will continue tackling issues and bridging the gap between world civilizations, by which I mean religions,'' Interfax news agency quoted him as saying in Astana, the Kazakh capital.

''We will go ahead with the processes within the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia. We will make further efforts aimed at making the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation stronger and certainly work within the CIS along with our neighbours in the Central Asian region to strengthen the Eurasian Economic Community,'' he said ''It is in our country's interest to bolster relations with them and to bring their economy to a new level. It is also a security issue,'' Mr Nazarbayev said.

''It is important to strictly follow the path toward strengthening our partnership with Russia and the People's Republic of China, which are our major economic and political partners,'' he said.

It is also important to expand ''our relations with the European Union, which is our largest trade partner,'' he said, adding Kazakhstan will continue to ''develop relations with the United States. Cooperation with this country has already reached the level of a strategic partnership''.

UNI