But this is often just a facade.

The reality is that the two leaders clash and vie for influence over Central Asia. After all, Kazakhstan is the largest Central Asian country by territory, while Uzbekistan is the most populous.

Last Friday, Tashkent was the final stopover in an international foray by Mr Nazarbayev that had taken in Istanbul and Tehran as well. Mr Karimov seemed happy to receive his neighbour and said the two countries “need to synchronise watches” and work more closely together.

The friendliness and the smiles that the leaders exchanged during the meeting, however, is not a sign that the long-standing rivalry between the two neighbours has subsided. Instead it is a reflection of the economic situation that they find themselves in. They have to try to work together to deal with a worsening economic outlook.

Generally, when a top world leader visits Astana, the next morning official media boasts deals worth billions of dollars. And it’s the same story when he travels. Mr Nazarbayev likes a multibillion dollar deal headline, even if some of the finer details show it to be hollow, at least in part.

This was the case in Tehran where Mr Nazarbayev signed a $1b trade deal with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani. In essence there appears to be little substance to this deal.

After Tehran, Mr Nazarbayev flew to Istanbul in an important show of support for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is at loggerheads with Russia.

The last stage of the tour is to neighbouring Uzbekistan. Mr Nazarbayev arrived last night in Tashkent for a meeting likely to focus on the economic challenges faced by the region.