Kassym-Jomart Tokayev personally welcomed Putin at the Astana airport.
A ceremonial meeting took place at the Akorda residence to greet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Vladimir Putin exchanged introductions of the members of their official delegations. The commander of the honor guard reported, after which the national anthems of Kazakhstan and Russia were played.
After the ceremony, the leaders of the two countries proceeded to the negotiation hall for a closed-door meeting. The President of Kazakhstan expressed his gratitude to Vladimir Putin for accepting the invitation to visit the republic.
“This is, without exaggeration, a very significant event in our intergovernmental relations, which are built on a solid foundation of strategic partnership and alliance. I read your article in the media of Kazakhstan today. I also published my article in Russian media. I believe we have very thoroughly, as if in unison, laid out our approaches to developing future-oriented cooperation. In my article, I emphasized that Kazakhstan has been and remains a reliable strategic partner and ally of Russia during this very challenging time,” noted the President of Kazakhstan.
He particularly emphasized that Kazakhstan and Russia have maintained and strengthened their bilateral partnership.
“The agenda of your visit is quite extensive. In the lead-up to the visit, members of the governments worked on discussing all the issues on the agenda. Today we will adopt very important documents – 20 agreements that will undoubtedly give a powerful additional impetus to further development of our good-neighborliness and cooperation,” declared the Head of State.
In turn, Vladimir Putin thanked Tokayev for the warm welcome.
“Thank you very much. We both maintain friendly and business relations, and everything is developing in the most dynamic way. We are in constant contact. I really hope to see you at the end of the year at the informal pre-New Year meeting in St. Petersburg within the framework of the CIS. And, of course, I look forward to welcoming you at the anniversary celebrations for the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. This is our common Victory,” emphasized the Russian president.
Putin elaborated on his program for the visit to Kazakhstan.
“Indeed, a whole range of documents have been prepared for today’s negotiations. This includes a Joint Statement and a whole package on various areas of our activities. Russia remains one of the largest trade and economic partners of Kazakhstan. Trade turnover is growing; last year it was nearly 28.5 billion dollars. Accumulated investments in the Kazakh economy reached 13 billion dollars. Of course, we highly value the development of humanitarian ties in civil society, education, science, and culture. It is worth mentioning that we have the largest number of foreign students studying from Kazakhstan. Interregional cooperation is also developing very successfully. Today, another event is taking place in Ufa. I want to thank you for the attention you pay to the development of Russian-Kazakh relations. We feel the President of Kazakhstan's commitment to this vital work. We see Kazakhstan as our reliable friend and closest ally,” said Putin.
During the negotiations, the leaders of the two countries discussed prospects for cooperation in areas such as industrial cooperation, energy, oil and gas, transit of energy resources, machine engineering, transport and logistics, finance, ecology, and water resource management, as well as education, science, and cultural-humanitarian ties.
Afterwards, negotiations continued in an expanded format. Tokayev highly appreciated the outcomes of the discussions in a narrow format, where a wide range of current issues of bilateral interaction were raised.
“As for our cooperation, we reached a consensus and gave appropriate instructions to the governments. Ahead of us lies a very large task. I note that our cooperation is developing on an upward trajectory, gaining irreversible momentum. Our task is to ensure that this cooperation does not slow down, that trade between our countries continues to develop successfully, that investment cooperation deepens, and that contacts in humanitarian and educational spheres also grow positively,” declared the Head of State.
Tokayev paid special attention to the development of trade and economic ties between Kazakhstan and Russia. He noted that mutual trade demonstrates stable growth and expressed confidence in the possibility of increasing bilateral trade turnover to 30 billion dollars in the near future. A positive trend is also observed in the investment sphere.
“Currently, 93 projects have been jointly implemented with a total investment volume of 18.3 billion dollars, which has created more than 22,000 new jobs in Kazakhstan. There are another 49 projects on the agenda with an investment volume of about 29.5 billion dollars with the potential to create over 20,000 jobs,” noted the president.
Putin highlighted the active development of interactions between Moscow and Astana.
“Indeed, Kazakhstan is our strategic partner and reliable ally. When we discussed issues of interaction in a narrow format, we paid attention to the problems that arise within our bilateral process. But the most important thing is that there is a desire to seek answers to all these questions and to find them. I do not know of any issue that we could not jointly resolve. With such an attitude, we will achieve great success. And the fact that Kazakhstan, under your leadership, is achieving impressive results also pleases us because the volume of cooperation is increasing. Despite all the complexities of today, this interaction is only expanding, becoming interesting and mutually beneficial for both sides,” emphasized Putin.
During the negotiations, a wide range of cooperation issues in the fields of trade and economy, transport and logistics, energy, science and technology, as well as culture and humanitarian ties were discussed.
Then Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Vladimir Putin participated in the plenary session of the XX Forum of Interregional Cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia. The presidents joined the event via videoconference.
In his welcoming speech, Tokayev emphasized that over two decades, the Forum has become an effective platform for strengthening strategic partnerships between the two countries.
“Cooperation in trade-economic and investment areas, as well as industrial cooperation, demonstrates stable growth dynamics. Indeed, trade turnover is increasing. Last year it reached an impressive 27 billion dollars. At the same time, Russia accounts for almost 20% of Kazakhstan's foreign trade. The total volume of direct Russian investments has approached 25 billion dollars. The annual influx of investments has significantly increased, doubling by the end of last year to 3 billion dollars. In Kazakhstan, 23,000 Russian and joint companies successfully operate, which accounts for almost half of all our enterprises with foreign participation,” he said.
Tokayev particularly noted the key points of intersectoral interaction between the two countries. In his opinion, cooperation in the fuel and energy sector between Kazakhstan and Russia has reached a qualitatively new level.
“Together with Lukoil, we began the development of a large offshore field, Kalamkas-sea – Kharaz. The investment volume in the project will exceed 6 billion dollars. Additionally, Russian partners are actively involved in implementing projects in oil and gas chemistry. Together with Sibur, we launched the largest polypropylene production plant in Central Asia in 2022, with a capacity of 500,000 tons per year. Today, this enterprise not only supplies raw materials to Kazakhstani processors but also exports products to Russia, China, Turkey, and other countries. In September of this year, construction began on a polyethylene production plant with a capacity of 1.2 million tons per year. Together with TATNEFT, a project for the production of butadiene with a capacity of 340,000 tons per year is being implemented. Significant successes have also been achieved in the gas sector. For the first time, the transit of Russian gas to Uzbekistan has been launched through the territory of Kazakhstan. An agreement has been signed with Gazprom for the transit of Russian gas to Kyrgyzstan. Long-term supplies of Russian gas to Kazakhstan are being worked on,” noted the Kazakh president.
Tokayev reminded that a year ago, an intergovernmental agreement was signed on measures to ensure the parallel operation of the energy systems of Kazakhstan and Russia. Its implementation will be an important step in strengthening the foundation of partnership relations in the energy sector.
“Practical cooperation has been established for the construction of thermal power plants in the cities of Kokshetau, Semey, and Ust-Kamenogorsk. Our partnership in renewable energy sources is also developing quite actively. With the participation of Russian partners, projects with a total capacity of 370 megawatts have already been implemented in Kazakhstan. As part of the agreements reached, the launch of another gigawatt of clean energy generation is planned in the near future,” noted the Head of State.
This year marks five years since the start of the implementation of the Program for Joint Actions in the Field of Production Cooperation. During this time, 93 joint projects have been completed with a total investment of nearly 18.5 billion dollars, which has created more than 22,000 jobs.
“This year, a tire plant of TATNEFT with a designed capacity of 3.5 million tires per year was put into operation in the city of Sarani. Together with KAMAZ, localization of machine engineering