Abertay business experts are working to shape Kazakhstan's renewable energy strategy.

Efforts to shift the oil rich country towards renewable energy will be the focus of an international research and teaching partnership between the country's Eurasian Technological University (ETU) and Abertay University.

Dr Kairzhan Abdykhalykov, vice-rector on strategic development, visited Dundee to discuss initial strategies for a project which he hopes could lead to greater use of renewable energy sources in his home nation.

According to the academic, businesses in Kazakhstan are poised to invest in the renewable sector but there is no skilled workforce and the higher education offering remains firmly on conventional oil, gas and engineering courses.

Funding from the Erasmus+ programme for staff mobility and knowledge exchange helped forge a partnership between the two univ

Dr Abdykhalykov said: "This is the first visit to Abertay from ETU and we have used it to identify which direction the project will take.

"Renewable energy is one of the main priorities in Kazakhstan and by territory we are a very large country so the potential for using solar energy is very high but we don't have a pipeline of renewable energy specialists.

"There is demand from local and internationally-focused companies for such expertise and that's why we are now looking to collaborate with Abertay and share knowledge to explore these areas."