ASTANA -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says his country will support Kazakhstan's project to build its first nuclear-power plant.
Speaking to journalists in the Kazakh capital, Astana, after talks with President Nursultan Nazarbaev on October 27, Abe said that a joint statement regarding a global ban on nuclear-weapons tests had been signed at the talks.
Nazarbaev said Kazakhstan and Japan plan to implement 10 joint projects worth $700 million in his country, adding that six other joint projects also worth $700 million had been already implemented.
Astana is the last stop in Abe's tour across Central Asia.
Japan’s prime minister last week started a tour of all five former Soviet republics in Central Asia, where Russia and China are vying for economic and geopolitical clout.