Addressing the forum, Mr Medvedev said that the two countries have all the conditions they need for expanding their work together in this sector. They share a unified technological and infrastructure base – pipelines, railways, motorways, waterways and electricity transmission lines.
The accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydroelectric Station has made it more important than ever to integrate the energy systems of Siberia, the Urals and European Russia with Kazakhstan’s energy system, the President said.
Mr Medvedev also looked at cooperation with Kazakhstan in high-technology fields and the prospects for peaceful nuclear cooperation through setting up a joint company in the civilian nuclear energy sector. He said that neither Russia nor Kazakhstan may afford to develop on the basis of their natural resources alone.
The President expressed his support for the Forum’s idea to speed up work on increasing oil volumes delivered through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s system and said that he hoped the necessary decisions would be made by the end of the year, enabling this new cooperation to begin.