Astana rolls out red carpet for PM

On his part,the PM seemed tentative and said little in specific terms to glorify Nazarbayevs democratic credentials,and spoke about his electoral victory only at the start of the delegation-level talks. Congratulating the Kazakhstan President on his re-election,Singh said: Your victory is a tribute to the confidence reposed on you by the people of Kazakhstan.

If the optics was crucial for Nazarbayev,the substance held the key for India. After a considerable gap,India has shown keenness to step up its conversation on Afghanistans future with the Central Asian countries and the joint statement with Kazakhstan specifically reflected this.

The two sides agreed that it was essential that renewed efforts were made to sufficiently build up the capacity of the Afghan National Security Forces. It may be recalled that New Delhi had worked closely with Central Asian countries,including Afghanistan,to support the Northern Alliance during the days of the Taliban.

Besides this,the two countries signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement,which provides a legal framework for cooperation in this field including fuel supply,joint mining of uranium,reactor safety mechanisms and construction and operation of nuclear power plants. Nazarbayev also affirmed that Astana will fulfill its commitment of supplying 2100 tonnes of uranium by 2014.