Kazakh president has talks in Britain

President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, who is on an official visit to Britain, has had talks with the head of British Airways, Richard Evans.

The talks focused on the creation of a Kazakh aviation company which would operate on a leasing basis.

Mr Nazarbayev is due to have talks with the British prime minister, Tony Blair, and the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon.

He is expected to sign agreements on trade and military cooperation and to meet business leaders to discuss exploiting Kazakhstan's huge reserves of oil and gas.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service