Senior security official Meng Jianzhu met Chair of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan Nurtai Abykayev here on Wednesday, urging the two sides to enhance cooperation in fighting crime.

Nursultan Nazarbayev, whose regime has been criticised by rights groups, will meet David Cameron, the Queen and UK business leaders

In Texas or the North Sea, oil companies struggling with falling prices are firing thousands of employees. In Kazakhstan, it is not so simple.

On August 31 Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Beijing, with the pair agreeing to build stronger ties. Xi welcomed Nazarbayev to China for his state visit and to participate in the country’s V-Day celebrations on September 3.

The Chinese alternative to the Nobel Peace Prize has gone to “a war-monger ... and a sadist who delights in the misery of the people”, said one critic of the award.

Since September 28, Afghan security forces have struggled to wrest control of Kunduz, capital of Kunduz province, from its seizure by the Taliban. As Kunduz adjoins Afghanistan’s frontier with Tajikistan, officials from Dushanbe to Moscow have become increasingly concerned that militants may seek to cross the border and carry their jihad into the post-Soviet space.