Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong met Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev during the Singapore leader's visit to the Central Asian nation this week and discussed areas of cooperation between their countries.

During their meeting on Wednesday, ESM Goh congratulated President Nazarbayev on Kazakhstan's 25th anniversary of independence this year, before they adjourned to a private lunch, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement.

Mr Goh and the chairman of the Agency for Civil Service Affairs and Fighting Corruption, Mr Kairat Kozhamzharov, also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Singapore's Civil Service College and Kazakhstan's Academy of Public Administration.

Under the MOU, the Civil Service College will jointly organise a series of training workshops with the Academy of Public Administration for senior leaders from Kazakhstan, supported by the Temasek Foundation International.

While in Astana, Mr Goh also met a group of Singaporeans based in the capital city, before ending his four-day trip to Kazakhstan yesterday.