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President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: Mr Putin, I am delighted to see you in Astana.

I would like to express my gratitude to you for joining this summit. You know that Kazakhstan is chairing the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation this year. It is a very honourable mission, but it comes with great responsibility too. Tomorrow, I will report on the work that has been carried out under our leadership. I believe the chairmanship has been productive, with many events held. The organisation itself is being reformed, although this is not an easy thing.

The performance of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is also improving. The group has gained sufficient authority in the international arena. In my view, the SCO is one of the most successful international organisations in the current context. It is also an inherently democratic one, meaning that the principle of equality of all states is observed and respected here.

I certainly cannot fail to acknowledge Russia’s enormous contribution to strengthening the potential of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. And as Chairman, I would like to express my gratitude to you for that.

As for bilateral cooperation, it has been on an upward trajectory since your very important – one might say, historic visit last November. I keep the implementation of the agreements reached under personal review. The projects that we agreed on during your visit are of prime importance and, in fact, embody the strategic nature of cooperation between our states. Therefore, I have no doubt that they will be implemented, because they align with the interests of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation alike.

I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to make another visit to Kazakhstan in November and time it with your participation in a meeting of the supreme council [the Collective Security Council] of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. I believe this is simply necessary in order to maintain the pace of cooperation we achieved between our countries, and I hope to see you again in our country, this time on a state visit.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Tokayev, thank you for the invitation.

We appreciate the efforts Kazakhstan has invested to make this event possible. It is in its early phase, but we can already see its scale. It certainly has an international dimension not formally, but substantively. This is my first point.

Second, I would like to note that Kazakhstan, on the one hand, and Russia, on the other hand, are chairing a number of international organisations and hold forums. You are chairing the SCO and the CSTO, and Russia is chairing BRICS and the CIS. We will support and help each other in this regard.

I would like to thank you for inviting me to pay a state visit to Kazakhstan. Without a doubt, timing my visit to the CSTO summit is the most rational choice. We will definitely do it. Thank you for the invitation. I certainly accept it.

With regard to our bilateral relations, we maintain contact at all times. Still, I would be remiss not to note that trade has expanded to almost US$30 billion, over US$28 billion, which is impressive. With over 17 percent of Kazakhstan’s trade, Russia is among its key trade and economic partners.

We are pursuing many important areas of cooperation marked by high levels of collaboration, and many interesting projects. I propose discussing this today as well.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: Agreed.

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