Kazakh's newly 'elected' President likely to visit India by year-end, says Ambassador Sarsenbayev

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who is all set to be new President of Kazakhstan, may visit India by the year-end, said country's Ambassador Bulat Sarsenbayev here on Monday.

"I believe that Tokayev would pay a visit to India by the end of this year. We need to prepare the visit plan properly and do not want to hurry," Sarsenbayev told ANI.

The preliminary election results showing certain win for Tokayev in Kazakhstan Presidential elections.

Sarsenbayev said his country's economic relations with India have improved significantly in the past few years, especially after the bilateral visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015.

"From 2015, when Prime Minister Modi visited Kazakhstan, we really started to think to deepen economic relation. Politically we are very close. We provide support to each other at multilateral and bilateral levels," he said.

"We have come to an understanding that we need to focus on the economic part of our relations. And we have started working accordingly. As a result, today more than 560 Indian companies are doing business in Kazakhstan," he said.

According to the preliminary results shared by the country's Election Commission, Tokayev, the chosen successor of former Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, is set to become the President after securing nearly 71 per cent of the votes.

Nursultan Nazarbayev had served as the President from the country's independence in 1992 until his resignation in March this year.

After Nazarbayev's resignation, the Presidentship was transferred to the then Speaker of the Senate (Upper House) Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

In his address to the nation shortly after assuming Presidency, Tokayev had announced that the elections would be conducted earlier than anticipated.

A total of seven candidates ran for the Presidency this time including Daniya Yespayeva, the first woman candidate to do so in the country's history. The voter turnout in the elections was 77.4 per cent.