President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev: Mr Putin, thank you very much for your and the delegation’s active participation at this meeting [the Fifth Caspian Summit], which is important for all of us.
We know that you have taken an active part in talks with various members of the Caspian states. This has made its effect and today we have reached a good, historic decision, with the Convention being adopted for the first time, and this matter is mostly settled. Now a path has opened for the Caspian countries to cooperate and settle issues further.
Our bilateral relations have been developing in all areas. This year, we will have an interregional meeting in Petropavlovsk, and a CIS meeting in Dushanbe, as far as I remember. During all these meetings, you and I meet separately to discuss our bilateral relations; this helps us resolve all our issues.
Among the questions we have yet to discuss is the issue of CSTO Secretary-General, which has become a problem now.
I am grateful to you for the support in settling all the issues regarding the cosmodrome. The agreement signed on the Baiterek programme is running its course; investors are showing up, and we will together build another launching unit.
As regards military and technical cooperation, yesterday our ministers held a meeting. We have appointed a new defence minister, and our ministers discussed all pertinent issues as well.
Our economic ties within the EAEU and bilateral ties are on the upswing, for which I am grateful to you and the Russian Government.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Nazarbayev,
First I would like to congratulate you on the results of the summit of heads of the Caspian states and say that this event will undoubtedly go down in history as the one that took place in Kazakhstan.
This is a major event that we have been striving to reach for two decades; we held frank discussions and sought out a solution, and this solution has been found at last. This will contribute to the development of our cooperation in the Caspian region.
As regards our relations in a broader context, under CSTO and EAEU, this is a substantial agenda and a large programme. There are several problematic issues, you have just mentioned one of them regarding CSTO.
But as regards bilateral relations, our mutual trade is growing, and major projects, which we talk about and which we support, are developing, such as Baiterek and other programmes, as well as our cooperation in the energy and transport sectors.
Overall, there are numerous interesting initiatives. I am confident that all our programmes will develop successfully, and we will achieve good results.
I would like to thank you for the attention your personally pay to the development of Russian-Kazakhstani relations.
Nursultan Nazarbayev: Thank you.
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