Turkey's FM goes to Kazakhstan

The Foreign Minister of Turkey, Ismail Cem, is Kazahkstan for a two-day visit aimed at developing relations between the two countries.

Mr Cem was to have talks with his Kazakh counterpart, Erlan Idirisov, the President, Nursultan Nazerbayev, and the Prime Minister, Kasymzhomart Tokayev.

Regional cooperation will also be discussed.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Turkey has been trying to increase ties with Turkish-speaking countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service