Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Tuesday kicked off a two-day official visit to Turkey to meet with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and sign a series of trade agreements.

The visit is the Kazakhstan president’s first to Turkey since he took office three years ago.

The two presidents are to discuss regional and international issues and steps to further develop bilateral cooperation, according to the Turkish government and the Ankara-based state news agency Anadolu.

The visit will also serve to sign agreements and memoranda of understanding, the sources said.

The pro-government daily Yeni Safak said Kazakh Foreign, Energy, Defense, and Culture ministers traveled to Turkey with Tokayev, and that one of the main objectives of the official visit was to increase bilateral trade in the medium term to $10 billion.

Trade between the two countries rose 33% in 2021 to $4.1 billion.