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President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: Mr President, ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to President of Russia Vladimir Putin for accepting my invitation to make a state visit to Kazakhstan. Your state visit has become a landmark event marking a major stage in the development of Russian-Kazakhstani relations.

Russia is a strategic partner and a reliable ally of Kazakhstan. We are united by the unbreakable bonds of friendship, centuries of neighbourly ties and a common history. Relying on these enduring values, our states have developed substantive relations that look to the future. Cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia has reached an unprecedented level in nearly all main spheres of interaction. Our political dialogue is developing consistently, our trade and economic cooperation is growing stronger, and our cultural and humanitarian ties are becoming more active.

The meetings and talks held in the restricted and expanded formats today were business-like, outspoken and truly productive. We discussed a broad range of current topics on the bilateral agenda, mapped out prospective spheres of our strategic partnership, and concluded that our bilateral relations are developing dynamically and progressively despite the complicated geopolitical situation.

Our talks focused on economic matters, with priority attention given to strengthening cooperation in strategic sectors and increasing mutual trade.

With this aim in view, we have adopted a package of intergovernmental documents, including the Comprehensive Programme of Economic Cooperation for 2021−2025 and the Joint Action Plan for 2024−2026.

We have signed a programme of interregional and cross-border cooperation during the Russia-Kazakhstan Interregional Cooperation Forum.

Russia is one of the largest partners for Kazakhstan and one of the top three investors in our economy. For its part, Kazakhstan has become one of Russia’s top five trade partners, for the first time in the history of our bilateral relations, which is clear evidence of stable and large potential of our cooperation. I am convinced that by maintaining positive dynamics we will be able to increase our mutual trade to more than $30 billion in the next few years.

The volume of Russian direct investment in Kazakhstan's economy has surpassed $24 billion, with over $4.5 billion invested in just the past two years. Cumulative investment from Kazakhstan in the Russian economy has reached an impressive $8.5 billion.

Moreover, approximately 24,000 companies with Russian participation are operating in Kazakhstan, accounting for nearly half of all foreign capital enterprises within the country.

These figures underscore the substantial level of confidence and mutual interest in further bolstering our strategic partnership.

In the industrial sector, we have made notable advancements, having initiated 93 collaborative projects valued at over $18 billion. An additional 49 projects, with a combined investment nearing $30 billion, are currently in progress.

Particular attention should be paid to the large-scale projects focused on connecting various regions in Kazakhstan to gas supply, the enhancement of Russian energy resource transit volumes towards the south and east, and the construction and modernisation of significant energy facilities within Kazakhstan. Priority is placed on harnessing the transit potential through the expansion of essential transport corridors.

We also deliberated on the prospects for project implementation, including the construction of a motorway to Mongolia and active engagement with the Trans-Afghan transport corridor.

I am confident that the comprehensive execution of all these initiatives along the North-South axis aligns perfectly with the core interests of the friendly peoples of our countries.

The Russia-Kazakhstan Interregional Cooperation Forum occupies a special place on our economic agenda. Today, President Putin and I participated in the 20^th anniversary forum in Bashkortostan's capital via videoconference. I am assured that the outcomes of the Ufa Forum will provide additional momentum to our interregional engagements across a broad spectrum of areas. In this regard, I would like to highlight the decision to establish a consulate general of the Russian Federation in the city of Aktau, Mangistau Region, in the near future.

We place great emphasis on collaboration in scientific, cultural, and humanitarian fields. Yesterday, a Kazakh-Russian scientific forum for historians was convened in Astana. Prior to this, a meeting of volunteer movement leaders from both nations took place in Almaty, and tomorrow, a session of the joint expert council will be convened.

These events make a significant contribution to strengthening cooperation between our countries. We strongly advocate for comprehensive system-wide support for large-scale cultural and humanitarian initiatives at the state level. In this context, I have decided to open the Alley of Eternal Kazakhstani-Russian Friendship in Astana in the spring of 2025. Residents of the capital and visitors will be able to relax in a comfortable setting there.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Russian side for its active participation in the 5th World Nomad Games, held in early September in Astana. The national team of the Russian Federation, comprising about 180 members, achieved impressive results in various sports.

In 2026, Kazakhstan will host the 3rd Games of the Future. This unique tournament, initiated by Russia, combines traditional sports with cyber-sport. I would also like to mention the Days of Astana Culture in Moscow, held this past August, which received widespread acclaim among the Moscow and international audiences.

The unveiling of a bust of the great Kazakhstani poet and thinker Abai Kunanbaiuly in Kazan became a landmark event. Additionally, audiences enjoyed the opera Abai, a classic Kazakhstani national masterpiece, performed at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. In the coming years, we plan to organise large-scale Kazakhstani exhibitions at the Tretyakov Gallery and the Hermitage.

All of this reaffirms the commitment of our fraternal nations to strengthen intercultural ties through new collaborative formats.

We are consistently expanding cooperation in the education sector, with over 60,000 Kazakhstani students studying at Russian universities. This highlights the popularity of the Russian education system and the mutual interest of both countries in exchanging knowledge and experience.

In line with previous agreements, seven branches of leading Russian technical education institutions have opened in Kazakhstan. A branch of Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) will soon open in Astana. Today, a branch of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University has opened in Omsk, becoming the first branch of a Kazakhstani university in Russia.

At the same time, we are discussing the prospects for establishing Kazakhstani schools in Russia’s border regions, as well as Russian-financed schools in Kazakhstan’s Jambyl, Kyzylorda and Turkestan regions. All of this will enhance educational ties and provide additional opportunities for the younger generations in both countries.

The Russian language is an important factor that unites our people. I want to stress that one-third of all school students in Kazakhstan receive an education in Russian. We in Kazakhstan attach great importance to this matter, and it is for this reason that I have proposed to establish the International Organisation for the Russian Language.

Supporting compatriots living in Kazakhstan and Russia was another important topic during the talks. The signing of a memorandum on cooperation between the Otandastar Foundation and Rossotrudnichestvo would be particularly significant in this regard, with discussions already taking place on this matter. Agreements of this kind play a special role in strengthening mutual understanding between our nations and receive a positive response from the public.

During our meeting today, President Putin and I discussed in detail the dynamics of interaction between our countries in a multilateral format and held a constructive exchange of views on the most pressing regional and global political issues.

I am pleased to report our full mutual understanding regarding cooperation within regional associations, such as the CIS, the Eurasian Economic Union, SCO, CSTO, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, and others. Today, there is practically no area in which our countries do not interact.

What is especially important is that there are no disputed issues between Kazakhstan and Russia; we consistently find balanced solutions that take into account the interests of both states to the greatest extent possible. Taking this opportunity, I want to express my gratitude to the President of Russia for his unwavering personal attention to strengthening friendly relations between our nations.

There is much joint work ahead; we have ambitions plans for 2025 and beyond. Numerous joint projects are set to be implemented, which, I am sure, will bring tangible benefits to both individuals and businesses in our countries.

The Agreement on the Kazakhstani-Russian State Border, a fundamental interstate instrument, will be 20 years old next January. In 2025, we also plan to celebrate two great anniversaries: the 80^th anniversary of the Great Victory and the 70^th anniversary of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. We have arranged to hold festive events to mark these significant dates in our countries. As you can see, the bilateral agenda is regularly enhanced with specific initiatives and new interesting projects.

In conclusion, I want to reiterate that Kazakhstan and Russia invariably follow the path of strengthening their strategic partnership, while laying the foundation for the progress and wellbeing of our nations, particularly the younger generations. I am confident that the positive results of today’s events will enable us to elevate our allied relations to a qualitatively new level.

Thank you.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Friends, Mr President,

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for the invitation. As per your suggestion, this visit has the status of state visit, but I would like to note that the protocol and, in this instance, the solemn nature of the welcome accorded to our delegation has not prevented us from working fruitfully, which is traditional for our regular meetings.

We held an in-depth discussion on a broad range of issues of bilateral cooperation in the political, economic and humanitarian spheres. We exchanged views on the most topical regional and international issues. The Joint Statement we have just signed sets out new ambitious tasks for the further strengthening of the strategic partnership between our countries. Their fulfilment will be promoted by the numerous intergovernmental and interdepartmental documents we have signed in many spheres of our cooperation, from energy and transport to healthcare and justice.

Both sides noted that our bilateral trade closely approached $30 billion last year, as we pointed out several times today. According to our statistics, the precise figure is $28.4 billion, and between January and September of this year our trade exceeded $20 billion. It is important that the structure of our mutual trade is being diversified, with non-raw-materials high added-value products taking an increasingly large share. The share of national currencies in mutual settlements has almost reached 90 percent, which helps us protect commercial transactions between our countries from the negative influence of the external situation, including on the political stage.

Russia is one of the largest investors in Kazakhstan. Aggregate Russian investment equals $13 billion, as we have pointed out. There are over 23,000 businesses with Russian capital and over 60 major joint projects are being implemented in the republic in all the key sectors of Kazakhstan’s economy.

We are consistently developing bilateral cooperation in energy. Thanks to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, the bulk of Kazakhstani oil, exported to external markets, passes through Russian territory and the Russian port infrastructure in the Black Sea. In turn, Russian oil transits through Kazakhstan and onwards to China. Our country also imports Kazakhstani coal, and there are reciprocal supplies of electric energy.

Construction of three new thermal power plants in Kazakhstan is currently on the agenda. Gazprom provides uninterrupted supplies of gas to Kazakhstani consumers and processes fuel from the Karachaganak Field at the Orenburg Gas Chemical Complex. Since last year, Russian gas has been transiting through Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan, and we plan to increase these deliveries.

Russia and Kazakhstan are expanding cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. There are six joint uranium production and enrichment facilities. Russian and Kazakhstani companies are involved in a number of major successful projects in machine engineering, the petroleum industry, and mineral fertiliser production. Rostselmash produces modern grain harvesters, tractors and components for agricultural equipment. During the talks, we discussed cooperation in transport and logistics. Both parties are interested in expanding air and railway freight traffic between the two countries. Good prospects are opening up given the development of the North-South international corridor from Russia to India whose eastern section crosses Kazakhstan.

It is important that we have managed to preserve and expand close cooperation with our Kazakhstani friends in space research. We continue to use the Baikonur Cosmodrome and are making progress with the Baiterek project, which aims to build a new space rocket complex for Soyuz-5 carrier rocket launches. We expect that the first launch from Baiterek will take place next year as planned.

While we are visiting Astana, the 20^th Russia-Kazakhstan Forum of Regions is taking place in Ufa. I will not go into further details here as we have just spoken to our colleagues working in Ufa, and the media representatives have all the information, of course.

Considerable attention was paid at the talks to humanitarian interaction and the strengthening of cooperation in culture, sport, between youth organisations and, of course, in education. About 60,000 students from Kazakhstan are studying at Russian universities. The branches of leading Russian universities, including Moscow State University, have been working successfully in Kazakhstan for a long time. Today, we signed an intergovernmental agreement on opening a branch of Chelyabinsk State University in Kostanay. A branch of MGIMO University of the Russian Foreign Ministry will start working in Astana soon. MGIMO University celebrated its 80th anniversary this year, and a large international conference timed for this event was held in Astana in September. One of the speakers was President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who is a graduate of that university.

We highly appreciate that the Russian language is widely and freely used in Kazakhstan, with support from the national leadership. We are grateful to the President of Kazakhstan for his initiative to establish an international organisation for the Russian language. I am confident that this organisation will support and promote Russian as a means of interstate and interethnic communication.

Russia supports the construction of new Russian language schools and efforts to raise the standards of education in the Russian language in Kazakhstan. There are plans to open three such schools in the republic soon.

We discussed key international issues, reaffirming that the positions of Russia and Kazakhstan are close on the majority of them. Our countries coordinate their stances at the UN and other multilateral venues. This year, Russia holds the CIS and BRICS chairmanships, while Kazakhstan chairs the CSTO and the SCO. As you know, it was decided at the BRICS summit that a new category of partner countries would be established. A list of candidates for this status has been coordinated, and an invitation to join BRICS in this status has been issued to Kazakhstan.

Of course, we would like to see Mr Tokayev at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council and the traditional informal meeting of the CIS leaders, which are to be held in St Petersburg on December 24−25.

In 2025, our nations will celebrate the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, our common Victory. It is notable that people in Russia and Kazakhstan remember and revere the heroism of our fathers and grandfathers who fought against Nazism side by side. We will do everything in our power so that the rising generations do not forget the price we paid for peace and freedom. It was with great pleasure that we invited the President of Kazakhstan to take part, together with other foreign leaders, in the celebrations of this anniversary in Moscow on May 9.

In conclusion, I would like to point out that we are certainly satisfied with the results of our talks. I am confident that this visit and the talks we held will help the further development of multifaceted cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan and our relations to the benefit of our nations.

Thank you.