German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier starts at 07:00 [ώρα Ελλάδας] two-day official visit to Kazakhstan.

The president of the central Asian state Kasim-Yomart Tokaev will welcome his German counterpart with military honors. After the talks they will have, the two presidents will take part in an economic forum of the two states.

Kazakhstan attracts Germany’s interest mainly because of its oil wealth.

The PCK refinery in Svet, Brandenburg state, not far from Berlin, has been buying crude from Kazakhstan after Russian oil stopped flowing there through the Druzhba pipeline in January under European sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

From a political point of view, the situation in Kazakhstan is inconvenient for Europeans. Mr. Tokaev exercises power in a way they see as authoritarian. In January of last year, protests erupted over rising fuel prices, which escalated into widespread riots with over 200 dead.

Mr. Steinmeier will also visit neighboring Kyrgyzstan.

According to the services of the German president, the visits of Mr. Steinmeier, the former foreign minister of the country, are intended to emphasize the geopolitical and geoeconomic importance of the region and to send the message that Berlin is willing to remain a partner of its countries.

Although Kazakhstan is eight times the size of Germany, with about 19 million inhabitants it has less than a quarter of its population.