Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Kazakh President participated in the 10th Russia-Kazakhstan Interregional Cooperation Forum in Yekaterinburg on November 11.

During the forum, Nursultan Nazarbayev and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held bilateral talks.

The presidents discussed the development of bilateral co-operation, particularly the prospects of strengthening interregional and border cooperation, as well as expanding partnership in the fuel-energy, cosmic, nuclear, and agricultural fields.

Nazarbayev said that the trade turnover with the neighboring countries is increasing.

Putin, in turn, highlighted the importance of the forum for the development and strengthening of bilateral partnership and said that after the full scale work of the Customs Union, the trade index has improved.

"Kazakhstan's commodity flows to Russia are increasing much faster than Russia's exports to Kazakhstan. The investments are on the rise as well. Russian investment in Kazakhstan amounted to about $1 billion in 2012, while Kazakh investment in Russia reached 1.7 million," Putin said.

The leaders of the two countries then participated in the plenary session of the forum, the main topic of which was industrial cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia.

Nazarbayev made a speech at the forum, saying that during the ten years of its existence the forum had become an effective place for bilateral interactions.
Industry is one of the main directions of cooperation, he said, mentioning engineering, mining, uranium, and chemical industries as successful fields of cooperation between the two countries.

"The Kostanai region supplies pellets to the Russian metallurgical enterprises and the Pavlodar region supplies aluminum materials. The Russian EurasHolding company is completing the construction of the rolling mill in Kostanai.
The construction of a facility for the production of diesel motors with help from Russia has started," Nazarbayev said.

He also said that the implementation of over 50 large-scale Kazakh-Russian joint projects worth around $6 billion is either underway or planned in the Kazakh territory.

Nazarbayev urged Putin to join efforts in the development of high technologies and said that EXPO-2017 which will be held in Astana, will give a new impetus to the development of cooperation in this field.

He also stressed the significant role of the Single Economic Space in increasing the economic potentials of both countries.

Putin, in turn, said that the interregional forums have approved their effectiveness and importance.

"Currently, 76 Russian regions out of 93 have economic ties to all 14 Kazakh regions, as well as Astana and Almaty. Over 200 interregional agreements on cooperation in various fields have been signed. Kazakhstan has become one of the leading trade partners for most of Russia's regions such as Tatarstan, Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Orenburg," Putin said.

"The trade turnover of each one of them with Kazakh partners exceeds $1 billion. This is a serious contribution to the development of Russian-Kazakh economic ties. In the last ten years, the volume of bilateral trade has increased fourfold, from $5.8 billion in 2003 to $22.4 billion in 2012," he added.

He also said that the elimination of existing restrictions within the Customs Union and the Single Economic Space will allow member countries to show a more stable economic growth.

Following the event, the parties signed a number of documents aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia.

(???) Nazarbayev and Putin also signed the agreement of Good Neighborliness and alliance in the 21st century.

Other bilateral documents aimed at intensifying the inter-state partnership included a cooperation agreement on the Association of Kazakh and Russian Industrial Colleges "ROST - ORLEU", a preliminary agreement guarantees safe oil transportation through the Kazakh territory and a Memorandum of Understanding on expanding cooperation in the field of industry between the Kazakh Industry and New Technologies Ministry and Russian Industry and Trade Ministry.

A roadmap on intensifying industrial cooperation in 2013-2014, a protocol for the agreement on cooperation in the development of Imashevskiy gas condensate field, and an agreement for the prevention and suppression of forest and grassland fires in border areas is included.

The Kazakh president also held a meeting with Lukoil president Vagit Alekperov, and the two sides discussed the company's activity in the oil and gas fields and the different aspects of implementing oil chemistry projects in Kazakhstan.

The 11th Forum of Interregional Cooperation of Russia and Kazakhstan will be held in Atyrau in 2014.