Russian, Kazakh leaders seek to revive falling trade

ATYRAU, September 30. /ITAR-TASS/. The leaders of Russia and Kazakhstan agreed on Tuesday that bilateral relations are developing and the neighboring countries are expected to overcome the plunging trade. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev in Atyrau, some 350 kilometers east of the Russian city of Astrakhan, ahead of the Russia-Kazakhstan interregional cooperation forum. While acknowledging that there has been a decrease in bilateral trade this year, the Kazakh president stressed: “I think this is a temporary trend,” urging the two countries to adopt the necessary measures to increase trade. Putin said Russia and Kazakhstan have friendly relations “rooted in history and today thousands of threads are binding us and helping us to develop while supporting each other.” The Russian leader said last year trade between Russia and Kazakhstan increased by more than 14 percent, reaching a historic record of $28.5 billion. “In the first six months of this year, in fact, there has been a certain adjustment,” Putin said. “In the second quarter it will even regain level,” Putin said, linking the current decline to reduced trade in the oil and gas sector. He added that other parameters saw an increase. Putin agreed with his Kazakh counterpart that the sides need to follow the current trends in the global economy and their own economies to “make certain adjustments.” Both Russian and Kazakh leaders said that the Caspian summit in Russia’s Astrakhan between five littoral states (Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan) on Monday was successful. Learn more on itar-tass.com