LOC21:55
18:55 GMT
WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (KUNA) -- US Vice President Mike Pence met with President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan on Wednesday for talks on the United States' South Asia strategy, the White House confirmed.
Pence hosted the Kazakh leader at his residence in Washington in a follow-up to Tuesday's White House meeting between Nazarbayev and President Donald Trump.
During the visit, Pence and Nazarbayev discussed Kazakh support for the US strategy, bilateral business partnerships and collaboration on nuclear nonproliferation issues, according to a White House statement.
The strategy, announced by Trump in August 2017, aims to hold back US military withdrawal from Afghanistan and tackle groups throughout the region more vigorously.
The plans target countries in South as well as Central Asia.
Pence thanked Nazarbayev for his country's "close cooperation on counterterrorism and reaffirmed mutual commitments to Kazakhstan's sovereignty and territorial integrity and welcomed the enhanced strategic partnership between the United States and Kazakhstan."
Seperately, the Vice President urged Kazakhstan to work on "critical anti-corruption efforts and civil liberties, especially meeting commitments to protect religious freedoms." (end)
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