Kazakhstan foreign minister to visit Russia May 29-30 - ministry

MOSCOW, May 28. /TASS/. Kazakhstan Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov travels to Gorno-Altaysk, capital of Russia's mountainous Altai republic at the junction of Siberia's taiga, the steppes of Kazakhstan and Mongolia's semi-deserts, for a two-day visit on Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced. Idrissov will meet Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to discuss co-operation between the two countries within integration associations, and developments in Ukraine, the ministry said. "The visit will be part of intensive political dialogue between the leaders of the two countries, reflecting a high level of trust and strategic partnership, and will help to further deepen our allied relations," it said. The two foreign ministers are expected to discuss "key issues of Russian-Kazakh relations, interaction of the two countries within integration associations, regional platforms and international organisations", the ministry said, noting the Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) alongside the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). "Issues on the agenda include preparing high-level bilateral and multilateral events in 2015, in particular an SCO summit and the 12th forum of interregional co-operation between Russia and Kazakhstan involving heads of state in [the Russian city] Ufa as well as meetings of the SCO Foreign Ministers' Council in Moscow in June," it said. Lavrov and Idrissov will also exchange views "on pressing international issues, including the situation in Ukraine", the ministry said, adding that particular attention would be paid to "unbiased assessments" of the history of the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War, as the four-year battle between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany is known. The diplomats are due to sign an action plan for co-operation between the foreign ministries of Russia and Kazakhstan over the next two years. Read more