Vatican City, 6 Nov. (AKI) - Pope Benedict XVI met the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, at the Vatican on Friday. A Vatican statement said Nazarbayev and the pope discussed issues including the peaceful coexistence of different religions, and the economic crisis.

"During the course of the cordial discussions, attention turned to....the economic crisis in the light of the (papal) Encyclical 'Caritas in Veritate', to inter-religious dialogue and to the promotion of peace, on the eve of Kazakhstan's presidency of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe," the Vatican said.

The OSCE is the world's largest regional security organisation whose 56 participating states span a geographical area from Vancouver to Vladivostok. Kazakhstan will assume the OSCE presidency in 2010.

After meeting the pontiff, Nazarbayev, a practising Muslim, met the Vatican's secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone and Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for relations with states.

The Vatican stressed the good relations between the majority-Muslim country and the church.

Nazerbayev is on a state visit to Italy and has met Italian president Giorgio Napolitano and prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Islam is the largest religion in the country followed by the Russian Orthodox Christian faith and Nazarbayev has worked to promote interreligious dialogue in his country.