King of Saudi Arabia passes valuable gift to President of Kazakhstan
Saudi Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Kazakhstan Zaheer Bin Mutish Al Anezi told about that today after the Ceremony of Presentation of Ambassadorial Credentials to the Head of State, Kazinform correspondent reports.
"I conveyed warmest greetings to His Excellency President of the Republic of Kazakhstan from King of Saudi Arabia. The President gladly accepted a piece of the cover for the Holy Kaaba given by King of Saudi Arabia. I handed over the King's letter expressing his willingness to pay an official visit to Kazakhstan. We hope that he will pay the visit in the short run", the Ambassador said.
President Nazarbayev noted that Kazakhstan treats Saudi Arabia as the key international partner that "always supports foreign-policy initiatives of our country".
"My visit to Riyadh in October last year greatly helped to utmost development of bilateral mutual cooperation. According to the results of the negotiations with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman we agreed to foster the efforts taking our bilateral cooperation to a new qualitative level. Moreover, we supported our mutual interest in promoting cooperation in agricultural, petrochemical and geological industries", Nursultan Nazarbayev noted.
The traditional cover of Kaaba is made of black silk with gold-thread embroidery. The cloth covers the walls of Kaaba. Its length is 41 meters. It is noteworthy that the draping tradition Kaaba goes back to pre-Islamic era. Presently, the old Kiswah is removed every year.