<P> Phase 1 of Steppe Eagle 2017 took place March 31 to April 11, 2017, at Illisky Training Center, Kazakhstan . About 50 U.S. and U.K. soldiers and over 500 Kazakh soldiers participated in the peacekeeping exercises that focused on medical and communication operations . </P> <P> Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Erzhan Ashikbayev visited the USA on June 10--12, 2014 where he met with the leadership of the White House, State Department, United States Congress, the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, as well as with representatives of the U.S. export and business community . </P> <P> President Nursultan Nazarbayev met with the members of the United States Congress Dana Rohrabacher and Gregory Meeks on Sept. 5, 2014 in Borovoye, 250 kilometres north from the Kazakh capital . The U.S. congressmen expressed hope for further strengthening of the mutually beneficial partnership between the two countries . </P> <P> Also on Sept. 5, the U.S. congressmen had a meeting with Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov . With Idrissov, who spent five years as Kazakhstan's ambassador in Washington, they discussed the current state and outlook for cooperation between Kazakhstan and the United States in political, economic and trade areas . </P>

The historical relationship in the messages of the president of kazakhstan