Kazakhstan is planning to boost its uranium exports to Japan and increase its share on the Japanese uranium market from the current 4% to 40%, the Kazakh foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Kanat Saudabayev said in an interview with Japan's Nikkei news agency that the basic principles and areas of bilateral cooperation in civilian nuclear power engineering were defined in an intergovernmental agreement signed between the two countries in Tokyo on March 2, 2010.

"It [the agreement] allows for the expansion of the sphere of interaction. In particular, Kazakhstan is interested in obtaining nuclear power technologies from Japan," he said.

A package of documents signed between Kazatomprom, Kazakhstan's national operator for the import and export of uranium, and Japanese companies stipulated broader cooperation in the nuclear fuel cycle, he said.

"The implementation of these accords will make it possible in coming years to increase the share of Kazakh uranium products on the Japanese market from 3-4% to 40%, of which about 30% will be highly processed products," he said.