VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Transcript of the start of the meeting:
Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, Mr Massimov and colleagues, once again.
We are happy to meet our strategic partners here at the EurAsEC's summit, and discuss common problems. During the meeting, we shared our efforts in overcoming the global financial crisis on a national level. We know that our Kazakh friends faced these problems somewhat earlier than we did, and pursued a number of measures.
We would like to avoid ineffective steps which were probably natural because the situation is far from simple. Nevertheless, I cannot say that we are doing much better in this respect although we have undertaken several large-scale measures. In any event, both of us are determined to resolve these problems. I believe we'll make it. The better we coordinate our efforts, the more successful it will be.
We are very glad to see you. Once again, welcome.
Karim Massimov: Many thanks, Mr Putin.
First, I'd like to convey greetings from Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. He asked me to tell you that we are studying with great interest the experience of the Russian Federation, and the measures which are being undertaken by its Government and Central Bank. It would be very useful to coordinate our efforts because our economies are similar in structure. Our economy is simply 10 times smaller on the average. We have similar problems in all other respects, and this is why we would like to see what you are doing at the level of the Government, the Central Bank, and development institutions. We can coordinate our efforts to overcome our current, temporary predicament.
I think that the decisions which the EurAsEC made today and the measures which we will discuss during our bilateral meeting are bound to help us deal with the current problems.
Vladimir Putin: You've mentioned work in the EurAsEC. We consider it very important. At the same time, the Kazakh and the Russian economies have some endemic issues. I'm referring to a big share of the mining industry, and the role of oil and gas in both economies. We have discussed this. I believe that we should not simply help each other as we have been doing and are going to do in the future, but that we should coordinate more proactive plans.
Although our two countries are major producers and exporters of hydrocarbon fuels, our influence on resource pricing is inadequate. This is not positive because both Kazakhstan and Russia are interested in fair prices on raw materials and their products, prices which would be fair both for the producer and the consumer. We'd like transit countries to play a responsible role in this context as well.
With this in mind, I'd like to tell you that we have long set ourselves the goal of launching a commodities and raw materials exchange for trade in oil and oil products. We were planning to do this in St. Petersburg, and would like to discuss with you potential cooperation. Maybe, it makes sense to open a subsidiary of this exchange in Kazakhstan, say, in Alma Ata or Astana, or wherever you suggest. At any rate, the closer our cooperation here, the better it will be for both of us.
As you know, Moscow will host an international forum of natural gas producers. We'd like to see you there either as full participants in this global undertaking, or at least as observers. Either way, I believe this would be useful, at least for information exchange.
Karim Massimov: This is a very interesting proposal, Mr Putin. We are very interested in the first suggestion on the proposed oil exchange. I'll make all relevant instructions for launching talks on this issue. We'd like to see how this would play out. If you open an exchange in St. Petersburg, it would be possible to open a subsidiary in Alma Ata. I have a site in mind for it. I think we can move forward on this very quickly.
Your proposal to establish a financial centre in the Russian Federation is also very interesting.
