ASTANA. June 26 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan attributes major significance to cooperation with the North Atlantic alliance, Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerlan Idrisov told a delegation of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security.
The Kazakh Foreign Ministry press service reported on Friday that the delegation had come to Astana to discuss key issues of security and stability in Central Asia in the context of the wrapping up mission of the NATO coalition in Afghanistan.
"The foreign minister pointed to the topicality and importance of the inter-parliamentary dialogue carried out against the backdrop of rather serious challenges faced by the international community. He said that Kazakhstan ascribed great importance to collaboration with NATO and viewed the alliance as an important partner in the provision of international and regional security," the report said.
In the minister's words, assistance to stabilization in Afghanistan remained a priority area of Kazakhstan's foreign policy. "Astana has proven by deeds, not words its adherence to the international community's efforts to stabilize and restore that country," the report quoted the minister as saying.
He also said that Kazakhstan welcomed the efforts of member countries of the international coalition to beef up the potential of the Afghan national security forces and to implement NATO's new Resolute Support mission.
The sides also discussed major peacekeeping cooperation issues. The minister informed delegation members that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev had signed a law On Peacekeeping, which defined competences of the president, the government and state bodies in the area of peacekeeping.