During the meeting with visiting Kazakh foreign minister on Sunday, President Ahmadinejad praised the friendly ties between Iran and Kazakhstan, and expressed hope that the volume of bilateral trade would increase to around USD 5 billion in the near future from the current figure of USD 1.2 billion.



He also stated that a joint project to connect the railways of Kazakhstan and Iran through Turkmenistan, which is in final stages, would pave the way for more trade transactions between the two countries.



Kazykhanov, for his part, described the meeting as a very important development in the promotion of political and economic interactions, saying such meetings would give a great boost to bilateral relations.



He voiced his country's keenness to expand relations with the Islamic Republic.