Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi on Aug. 19 to intensify bilateral ties that this year mark 30 years, reported the presidential press service.
The two leaders voiced solid optimism about the development of bilateral relations. According to Tokayev, the two countries “have every reason to be satisfied with the way the cooperation is developing.”
“Indeed, Kazakhstan and Russia have a strategic partnership. This year we celebrate a very big date – the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations,” said Tokayev during the meeting that lasted two and half hours.
Discussing a wide range of issues in the multifaceted Kazakh-Russian strategic partnership, Tokayev and Putin focused on ways to strengthen trade, economic and investment cooperation. According to Kazakhstan’s data, last year the volume of trade reached $24.5 billion with Russia ranking first among the country’s partners.
“Our trade is growing. It increased by 34.4 percent in the past year. In the first five months of this year, it went up by almost 9 percent, or 8.8 percent to be exact. Both our countries are increasing their investment in each other’s economies. I believe, Russia’s investment has reached US$17 billion, and Kazakhstan’s investment in Russia is around US$4.5 billion,” said Putin at the meeting, according to a Kremlin press release.
He said the cooperation is intensive at all levels. “I am very glad that our meeting is certainly imparting an additional impetus to the development of our trust-based strategic partnership. I am very glad to see you,” Putin said.
Tokayev noted the active cooperation within international organizations, including the United Nations. The cooperation is particularly close within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
He also invited the Russian president to attend the CIS (the Commonwealth of Independent States) summit in October, as Kazakhstan chairs the organization this year.
Later in the day, Tokayev visited the Sirius educational center in Sochi, which is aimed at early identification, development and further professional support of gifted children who have shown outstanding abilities in sports, arts, science and creativity.
-The Astana Times