Official website of the President of Russia

Transcripts   /

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President,

We have already said hello and done some work together, had a working lunch with our colleagues. Now we have a chance to discuss our bilateral relations one-on-one.

Here everything is developing well overall. Over the last year, our trade grew by more than 34 percent. About $17 billion has been invested by Russian companies in the economy of Kazakhstan. The overall situation is progressing despite the current difficulties that we are all aware of.

Nevertheless, we have things to discuss in the bilateral format, related both to security that we discussed within the CSTO and the economy.

I am very happy to have this opportunity, Mr President.

President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: Thank you, Mr President.

I am glad to have the chance to meet.

Last time we met in here this hall on February 10. Indeed, there is no reason to be disappointed with the dynamics of trade and economic cooperation, or political interaction between our countries.

Bilateral trade has reached $25 billion. Russia is Kazakhstan’s main trade and economic partner, so the tasks that I set before our government are not only to maintain these dynamics and the volume of trade and investment, but also to increase them despite all the difficulties arising from modern geopolitical realities.

I brought along with me the top officials of the Kazakhstani government who are responsible for these matters, led by the First Deputy Prime Minister. They had very productive talks. The goal set to them was to work with the Russian government in a businesslike, no-nonsense manner, in order to achieve concrete practical results.

I am planning to take part in the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 17, at your invitation. Our government delegation is also planning to take part in a very large industrial exhibition that will be held in early July in Yekaterinburg. This autumn we plan to take part in the traditional forum of border regions. That is, the programme of our work, joint work and interaction is very extensive.

Vladimir Putin: I am very glad to have a chance to talk with you.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: Thank you.

<…>