President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, friends,
I am happy to welcome you, this time, in Sochi.
You and I met recently [in Yerevan], very recently, and in my opinion, we did a very good job within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. It was our joint responsibility to make a decision there to support and further develop this association. Based on our capabilities and the absolutely unique level of trust that we have, we have successfully reached agreement on all issues.
As for our bilateral agenda, I do not need to go into any detail now. I regularly have the opportunity to discuss our bilateral agenda with you, and, thank goodness, everything is going well on almost all tracks. We have a decent level of trade and good plans for further development. We have joint projects and various fields for cooperation – both traditional and high-tech sectors. In general, we need to keep an eye on things, of course, and certainly support our colleagues’ efforts at the industry level, at the ministerial level, which we, in fact, are constantly doing anyway.
I would like to thank you for accepting our invitation to participate in the Valdai International Club discussions. It will also be very interesting for us to hear your opinion as someone who has devoted many years to the diplomatic service. You are a very experienced person in this regard, and your assessments of the current state of affairs in the international arena, in the field of security, and security development in Asia will be extremely useful and interesting for us.
Thank you.
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: Thank you, Mr President.
First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the invitation to visit Sochi. I am ashamed to say this is my first time in Sochi, but better late than never, so I am very happy to be here. What I have seen here is certainly impressive. In fact, a new city has been built through your efforts, which is very convenient for living and, most importantly, recreation. I was told that all the hotels are still full, even though it is autumn already. I can only congratulate you on that.
I am very happy to participate in the Valdai Discussion Club. It is a very interesting forum with high-profile content, so I will try, as they say, not to lower the bar of this forum.
With regard to the upcoming events, I am grateful for the invitation to attend celebrations of the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, and I plan to be in Moscow. This is our common holiday. I am the son of a combat veteran, and my uncle was buried in the village of Trubino, Rzhev District, Tver Region. I have been there. There is a mass grave and a monument, for which I am grateful to the local authorities and, of course, to the Russian Government. All burial sites are in very good condition. Indeed, this is our common holiday. A burial site of 73 Kazakhstani soldiers who died during the Great Patriotic War was recently discovered in Ivanovo Region. Of course, Kazakhstan will honour the memory of our soldiers who gave their lives for the Great Victory.
With regard to cooperation between our states, there really seems to be no reason to discuss these issues in detail, because, in my opinion, the pace and content that were set by the first president of our state, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and you, is being maintained. It remains only to fill cooperation between our countries with new content, because life continues to evolve. Of course, we will be addressing new issues that will turn up and the ones remaining from before.
I am ready for this work, and I think we will raise the bar of cooperation, which, in fact, is a strategic partnership, as well as an alliance, and take it to a new level.
I think that we have complete understanding, which is evident from the outcome of the last Eurasian Economic Union’s summit in Yerevan. Of course, it was not easy, because in any organisation, even an integration organisation, questions arise that require detailed discussion, but the most important thing is making decision, which we did.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.
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