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The meeting covered the development of bilateral relations and border cooperation.

The talks continued in an expanded format.

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President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev: Mr Putin, I am very happy to see you here. Thank you for your visit.

To begin with, I must sincerely congratulate you once again on the good results of the State Duma elections and the regional elections. I believe this is a major victory for you, for Russia, for its stable development. It is very important in this difficult time, and you have done brilliantly. This speaks to the President’s influence and the popularity of the course you are pursuing.

We are meeting for the eighth time this year, and as usual, this meeting is very important. As we agreed in Sochi, our governments have done a good job. I would like to thank [Russian Deputy Prime Minister] Mr Shuvalov, as well as members of the Kazakh Government. As many as 900 business leaders on both sides will meet today after visiting EXPO, and they are expected to sign around 40 joint agreements.

After that, we will gather for our usual inter-regional meeting. All the governors are here, they are looking around and talking; some major agreements have already been reached.

All of the above will reconfirm our close relationship, the great trust and alliance created thanks to your support.

I am sincerely grateful to you, because I see how busy you have been. You could relax a little now that the elections are over, but no, you had a meeting in Orenburg again yesterday. I think it is already time for everyone to get to work. Why delay?

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Nazarbayev, thank you very much for the invitation.

The relations between Russia and Kazakhstan certainly have the qualities of an alliance and a strategic partnership. We are cooperating in nearly every area.

Indeed, we know that there are problems caused by objective circumstances. Even bearing in mind the objective nature of the circumstances that lead to a small change in our trade and economic turnover, we have to respond to it, to look for options to neutralise these negative developments. One of them is your initiative to organise a business forum with 900 participants, 400 of whom came from Russia.

Nursultan Nazarbayev: Yes, 400 people.

Vladimir Putin: This is an impressive delegation.

Since you asked, yesterday I met with people in Orenburg who work on the ground; representatives of small, medium and large businesses who work directly with Kazakhstan. You know, I was glad to hear that there are issues that could be resolved at our level, too.

Nursultan Nazarbayev: As always.

Vladimir Putin: But life goes on and advances very fast. We have mutual interests. Our companies deliver their products to Kazakhstan and order Kazakh products, including hi-tech solutions, which I was very glad to hear. In this regard, I would like to note that the subject of our meeting today, development of the transport and logistics infrastructure, is extremely important for creating favourable conditions for economic development. Let’s not forget that border and interregional trade and interregional cooperation accounts for 70 percent of the entire trade turnover.

I am sure the events planned for today will be very fruitful.

Nursultan Nazarbayev: Yes, logistics and transport connections are very important for the Eurasian Economic Union. We are very well prepared and the discussion will be productive. (Addressing First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin) Do you agree?

Askar Mamin: Of course.

Nursultan Nazarbayev: Mr Mamin started all this. Now he is First Prime Minister. All our colleagues here and Mr Shuvalov have known him for a long times, including all railway officials involved in the establishment of the first Russia-Kazakhstan logistics company.

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