Speaking after the signing of several bilateral agreements with Kazakhstan, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday said the East-West Middle Corridor was becoming more crucial and that the two countries are intent on promoting it more for supplying energy sources to the West.

"We aim to ship more oil from Kazakhstan via Türkiye to the global market,” he told a joint news conference with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Astana.

Erdoğan arrived in Astana on Wednesday and received an official welcome by Tokayev on Thursday. After the ceremony and one-on-one talks with Tokayev, Erdoğan joined his Kazakh counterpart to chair the sixth meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council of Türkiye and Kazakhstan.

Later, he was awarded by Tokayev with the Order of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, which recognizes significant contributions from domestic and foreign scholars, state and public figures, as well as citizens to national statehood, public-political, social, cultural, and humanitarian fields. Erdoğan is the first recipient of the newly created Order, which is named after an influential Turkic poet and Sufi mystic born in Sayram of modern-day Kazakhstan.

During his trip, Erdoğan was accompanied by senior Turkish officials, including Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat and head of the Turkish Presidency's Communications Directorate, Burhanettin Duran. After completing his meetings in Astana, Erdoğan is scheduled to travel to the southern Kazakh city of Turkistan to attend the informal summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) on Friday.

At the news conference, Erdoğan thanked Tokayev for his hospitality and hailed the cooperation council meeting where the two countries signed "numerous documents."

"In our talks, we had a comprehensive discussion on our cooperation in several fields, including trade, transportation, energy, health care, mining, culture, education, technology and the defense industry. We continue encouraging our business world to increase investments in Kazakhstan and establish bonds that will reinforce our bilateral relations," Erdoğan said, noting that he would later attend the Turkish-Kazakh Business Forum alongside Tokayev.

"We will hopefully witness the establishment of more collaborations between businesspeople of the two countries. Today, we also discussed projects that will advance our military and defense industry cooperation, projects that exponentially expand our trade and investment relations," Erdoğan stated.

The two countries signed 13 agreements on Thursday. Among them were mutual incentives for bilateral investments, a deal on the establishment of cultural centers, amendments to judiciary assistance agreements, a joint scholarship program, a memorandum of understanding for the establishment of two schools in Kazakhstan by the Turkish Maarif Foundation, an investment agreement between Kazakhstan and Türkiye's TAV Holding for expansion of Almaty International Airport, a cooperation agreement on construction of hospitals between Kazakhstan and Türkiye's YDA İnşaat company, a memorandum of understanding between public broadcasters of the two countries, a cooperation agreement between KazMunayGas and the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) on oil fields, a memorandum of understanding between KazMunayGas and TPAO for the development of joint oil and gas projects, a memorandum of understanding between the Astana International Financial Center and Istanbul Financial Center and an agreement to establish a joint initiative for production and maintenance of Anka unmanned aerial vehicles.

Erdoğan said Kazakhstan had a special place in their recent steps for diversification of energy sources. "Kazakhstan is a leading crude oil exporter, and we aim for the shipment of more Kazakh oil to the global market via our country. The importance of the Trans-Caspian East-West Middle Corridor, today's equivalent of the Silk Road, has increased. We continue, along with Kazakhstan and other partners, to promote shipment of energy sources to the West, not only the transportation of goods," he said.

The president said Türkiye was intent on building new bridges from the Eastern Mediterranean to Central Asia, with the principle of "unity in language, ideas and business."

"We view delivering the common cultural treasures of the Turkic world, ideas of great personalities, their works and spiritual legacy to the future generations as our joint responsibility," he said.

Erdoğan also praised heartfelt bonds between the two countries, something the entire nation witnessed after the February 2023 earthquakes in southern Türkiye. "In those difficult times, we always felt the support of our Kazakh brothers and sisters, the state of Kazakhstan," he said. The two presidents earlier remotely attended a ceremony for the opening of a school built by Kazakhstan in Nurdağı, a district of Gaziantep affected by the earthquakes. The school is named after Khoja Ahmed Yasawi.

On Friday's OTS summit, Erdoğan said Türkiye was grateful for Kazakhstan's valuable contribution to the integration of the Turkic world "from the very beginning." He said they were also pleased that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) would be represented as an observer state at the summit. The TRNC is not internationally recognized, and Ankara mobilizes all efforts for global recognition of the state located on the divided island of Cyprus.

For his part, Tokayev told the news conference that Erdoğan had "a great share" in improving bilateral relations. "Türkiye is a country with a strong political influence, economy and international reputation," he said.

He stated that Türkiye was an important strategic partner of Kazakhstan and the two countries were "united by centuries-old bonds of brotherhood, cultural and spiritual values."

"We have the same goals, same direction. Our most important task is strengthening solidarity between our nations and developing the level of prosperity," he said.

Tokayev hailed "great momentum in recent years in multi-dimensional cooperation between the two countries," noting that the relations between the parliaments also improved. He stated that the sixth meeting of the Council was "very fruitful." "We determined fields of priority to add more momentum to our partnership. We agreed upon strengthening our political, commercial, economic and cultural relations and signed documents to serve as the basis of our future cooperation goals."

The president said Türkiye was among the biggest investors in Kazakhstan and Turkish businesspeople made investments worth $6 billion in Kazakhstan so far, adding that Kazakhstan's investments in Türkiye reached around $2.5 billion. He underlined that some 4,000 Turkish firms operated in Kazakhstan and that this was a solid indicator of "long-term partnership."

"Trade volume exceeded $5 billion, and given the potential of our economies, we have all the opportunities to increase it," he said. He noted that they were already ready to support Turkish investors and invited companies to take part in long-term, major strategic projects.

"The new Constitution safeguards all property rights; it safeguards the rights of foreign investors. Our Turkish brothers can benefit from our Golden Visa program," he said.

Tokayev echoed Erdoğan's remarks regarding the Middle Corridor. "In the current geopolitical environment, the strategic importance of transportation and logistics has increased. The transportation of goods between our countries has advanced in a stable manner. Last year, railway transportation increased by 35% while land transportation increased by 5%. Our countries are bridges connecting the east and the west, and we should utilize this joint advantage," he stated.