Vladimir Putin met with President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at the Ala Archa state residence in Bishkek.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Tokayev, I am delighted to meet with you, this time during events associated with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Before we begin our meeting, I would like to congratulate you once again, this time personally, on the outcomes of the recent elections to the country’s parliament, the Kurultai. I would like to mention the high voter turnout and, which is most important, the voting results that confirm public support for the course, charted under your leadership, towards the further development of Kazakhstan, stronger internal political stability and economic progress as the basis for addressing a broad range of issues related to social development and improving people’s living standards. That is what the people have voted for.
Our bilateral relations are actively developing in nearly all spheres. Last year, we reported good trade turnover results, and they have further grown this year.
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: Yes, this is true.
Vladimir Putin: Overall, this is a good result indeed.
We are working on a broad range of issues. Our agenda includes both large projects and current issues. I am confident that these projects and issues are not only addressable but are actually being addressed, with our intergovernmental commissions working actively. I believe that we should thank our colleagues for being this active and for implementing all our agreements.
It is especially gratifying that our humanitarian contacts are growing stronger. As many as 60,000 young people from Kazakhstan are studying in Russian universities. A branch of Kazakhstan’s leading university has recently opened in Omsk. In other words, our relationship is a two-way street in almost every aspect.
Today, we have an opportunity to talk about all these aspects.
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: Thank you.
Mr Putin, let me begin by thanking you for your positive feedback regarding my proposal, my request to have a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Thank you for your congratulations on completing the cycle to elect a new parliament. We have done a great deal over the past year to introduce our country’s new constitutional framework. If it can be put this way, we adopted a new, absolutely new Constitution, and parliamentary elections were held. For the first time in our history, we elected a unicameral parliament, the Kurultai. Just as you have noted, the election took place in full conformity with all the existing norms and standards and received positive feedback because the voting was organised quite well.
However, it is not time for us to be complacent, as they say. There is a famous oriental saying stating that the end of one process marks the beginning of another one. Therefore, the effort to modernise Kazakhstan will carry on in keeping with its national interests, since carrying out reforms just for the sake of reforms is not an option, and we understand this. The interests of our people must come first in terms of improving their well-being.
As for bilateral cooperation, I believe that your visit to Astana in May of this year, and this was a state visit, was an all-round success by its very nature. In fact, it was a historical visit. Today, the Government is working on fulfilling all the agreements that were signed during the visit. You were right to note that trade has been expanding and exceeding expectations. It increased compared to last year, and I believe that Russia is set to remain our main investment and trade partner. I fully support this process since it meets the interests of our people. I also believe that it meets Russia’s interests, which makes it a reciprocal process.
I share what you said about promoting humanitarian contacts. This is instrumental since we cannot allow our countries to have any dividing lines in this domain. These contacts and the cooperation framework have been shaped over many years, if not centuries. There have never been any conflicts between the people of Kazakhstan and Russia in the past on religious grounds or based on any political considerations. If there were minor local conflicts, as they say, they boiled down to claiming the right to access rivers and pastureland. These were merely economic disputes.
Of course, the effort to promote cross-border cooperation in Omsk was a major success. I believe that our meeting was very effective in this context, and Kazakhstan is determined to follow this path to the very end, but it remains to be seen whether this effort can ever be completed. We will work with Russia, with the great Russian state by maintaining the same positive momentum and with the same level of sincerity. This is what I wanted to say.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you.
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