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
Vladimir Putin: Mr President, I'm happy to welcome you in Moscow. We saw each other only recently at the World Economic Forum. Today we have a chance to discuss bilateral relations, above all economic ties.
I want to thank you for your attention to the development of Kazakh-Russian relations. We have many common interests, and many large, important projects spearheaded into the future, in addition to the traditional space exploration projects. I strongly hope this will benefit not only Russia's space sector, but also facilitate the development of space exploration in Kazakhstan, which has the necessary conditions for this. I am referring not only to Baikonur, but also to the intellectual environment and to projects under way.
We have also many other spheres of interaction, such as power generation and engineering. Power generation implies not only hydrocarbons but also electricity and nuclear generation. In short, we have joint projects and plans in almost every sphere.
We are happy to see you here. I am sure your visit, your meeting with the Russian President, and your talks with the Russian Government will give a powerful boost to our interaction.
Nursultan Nazarbayev: Thank you, Mr Prime Minister.
We used to have a good tradition of meetings and special relations. Thank you for our meeting today.
Yesterday President Dmitry Medvedev and I discussed common issues and decisions, as you know. The work of our Governments on the economic package is proceeding. Our trade has reached $20 billion, the goal we have been striving to achieve.
Of course, we are fighting the global economic crisis now, and should "synchronise our watches" more often regarding large economic projects.
The development of cooperation in our border areas has spread to whole regions, which is very important. As for space cooperation, we are working on the KazSat-2 satellite. You know what happened to the first satellite, and so I am asking you to strengthen the combat ability and safety of the [second] satellite, which is so important to us. We are considering sending our astronaut, who has been trained in the Star City, on a space mission.
We expect to launch major projects, such as a joint venture with AvtoVAZ and a large joint venture with KamAZ. Russian fertiliser producer EuroChem plans to invest major funds in the mineral fertiliser market. In other words, despite the crisis and the lack of liquidity, interest in Kazakhstan and Russian-Kazakh relations continue to grow.
We want to invest in the Russian market. The crisis will not last forever, and we should now start thinking what we will do when it ends. I have come to you to discuss these issues, notably the Customs Union and the admission of our countries to the WTO.
Thank you.
