Kazakhstan Expects US Under Secretary Of State Hale To Visit Nur-Sultan Next Week

NUR-SULTAN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th August, 2019) SULTAN, August 14 (Sputnik) - US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale is expected to pay a visit to Kazakhstan from August 20-21 to hold negotiations with the its leadership and attend talks in the so-called C5+1 format, a platform for dialogue between the five Central Asian nations and the United States, a Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.

"From August 20-21, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale is scheduled to visit Nur-Sultan. During the visit, he is expected to have meetings with the leadership of the [Kazakh] state, government and Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Aibek Smadiyarov said at a press briefing.

According to the spokesman, Hale will also attend talks in the C5+1 format, which includes Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the United States.

"During [that] event, matters pertaining to the development of trade, economic and investment affairs will be discussed, along with the new security threats and risks that require a regional approach," Smadiyarov specified.

He added that the C5+1 format was aimed at promoting multilateral cooperation among its participants around economics, the environment and security.

The C5+1 format of interaction was created in September 2015. The first ministerial meeting in this format took place in the Uzbek city of Samarkand in November of that year.