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British PM visits Kazakhstan on trade mission

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AFP Astana
David Cameron arrived in Kazakhstan today on the first ever trip by a serving British prime minister, hoping to boost trade ties but also promising to raise human rights concerns.

Cameron landed in the oil capital of Atyrau on the Caspian Sea, leading a delegation of business figures hoping to increase their foothold in the mineral-rich Central Asian nation.

But the prime minister also told reporters travelling with him that he would raise concerns about human rights violations with President Nursultan Nazarbayev, saying no subject was off the table, British media reported.

Human Rights Watch has urged Cameron to raise allegations of torture, the imprisonment of government critics and limits imposed on the media and freedoms of expression and religion.
 

"It is essential to convey to the government of Kazakhstan your deep concern about serious and continuing rights violations there and the need for the government to take decisive action to address them," the group's UK director David Mepham wrote in an open letter.

Cameron met Nazarbayev in Atyrau where the two leaders discussed prospects for boosting economic and trade cooperation, the Kazakh presidency said, adding that they would meet again on Monday in Astana.

The British leader arrived from Pakistan, where he met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to discuss efforts to reach a peace deal in neighbouring Afghanistan before the planned withdrawal of NATO troops.

On his way to Islamabad, he stopped off in Afghanistan to visit some of the 7,900 British troops fighting the Taliban.

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First Published: Jun 30 2013 | 11:25 PM IST

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