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On the Russian side, the Russia-Kazakhstan talks in an extended format were attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, Deputy Prime Minister and Russian co-chair of the Intergovernmental Commission on Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan Alexei Overchuk, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office and Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Kazakhstan Alexei Borodavkin, Minister of Justice Konstantin Chuichenko, Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov, Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov, Minister of Transport Roman Starovoit, Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities Irek Faizullin, Minister of Energy Sergei Tsivilev, Deputy Ministers of Defence, Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, Science and Higher Education, Finance, as well as the heads of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare, Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision, Russian Railways, Roscosmos State Corporation, Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, VTB Bank PJSC and Russian Export Centre JSC.

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President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: Mr Putin, Russian colleagues, I extend a welcome to you once more in our capital.

I wish to reiterate my appreciation for your decision to undertake this state visit, which, as I have previously highlighted, holds significant importance in terms of enhancing and fortifying our strategic partnership.

Earlier, in what is referred to as restricted format, we engaged in an exhaustive and business-like discussion of literally all matters on our comprehensive agenda. As to our bilateral cooperation, I believe that we have reached a consensus, and we have accordingly issued respective instructions to our governments.

There is a substantial amount of work ahead. Naturally, as President, I shall oversee these efforts, as I place a high priority on the advancement of our cooperation with the Russian Federation.

There are no significant issues between our nations, nor any matters, regardless of their seriousness, that remain unresolved. As our cooperation evolves, naturally, there arise instances that warrant the attention of both heads of state and government leaders. To this end, such engagements are conducted to address all existing matters.

Today, we shall sign a comprehensive suite of agreements, joint statements, and declarations. Undoubtedly, these are of considerable importance.

I affirm that our cooperation is on an upward trajectory, having attained an irreversible momentum. Our collective aim is to ensure a sustained growth of this collaboration, with successful expansion of trade between our countries, deepening of investment cooperation, and of course, an upward trend of cultural and educational exchanges.

This concludes my remarks. I invite you to take the floor, Mr Putin.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Tokayev, I would like to thank you for the invitation and the warm welcome.

Indeed, Kazakhstan is our strategic partner and a truly reliable ally. Of course, as we discussed matters of our interaction during the restricted-format meeting, we placed emphasis on the issues that arise as part of a major bilateral process. Some issues require, as you noted, attention from our side, the Russian side, and you expect the Russian side, your Russian partners to come up with certain solutions. We, on our part, have similar issues as well.

Most importantly, though, and this could be clearly seen during the restricted-format discussion, there is a will to look for answers to all these questions and find them, and they are tend to be found, indeed. There is not a single issue that I know of that we would not be able to solve if we address it together. So, we will achieve great success with this kind of resolve.

Things that Kazakhstan is doing today under your leadership, and the fact that Kazakhstan has achieved impressive results is good news to us, because the amount of cooperation has grown to nearly $30 billion. Despite the challenges of today, this cooperation is expanding and becoming more engaging and mutually beneficial. We went beyond industry and finance in our today’s discussion, but tomorrow we will also focus on matters of security, which is an essential component of today’s life, within the CSTO framework.

We are grateful to all of you – I am speaking now on behalf of the Russian delegation – you see, half of the Russian Government came to Kazakhstan this time – for creating the conducive environment for our joint work. I am certain that all the documents that our colleagues have prepared for this meeting today will strengthen the regulatory framework and serve as a good basis for moving forward.

Thank you.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: Thank you, Mr Putin.

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