Russian, Kazakh presidents to attend regional cooperation forum in late 2019 - statement

MOSCOW, April 3. /TASS/. Russia and Kazakhstan will maintain the practice of holding annual forums on regional cooperation that involve both countries’ leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in a joint statement singed during their Kremlin talks. "Annual Russian-Kazakh regional cooperation forums, which involve the leaders’ meetings with the two countries’ businessmen, are considered to be an effective mechanism to boost cooperation. An agreement was reached to hold the 16th forum in late 2019," says the statement published on the Kremlin’s website. The document added that Russia and Kazakhstan "maintain alliance relations and integration cooperation as equal and sovereign states, based on mutual trust and strategic partnership, guided by respect for each other’s sovereignty and independence, the principles of equality, non-interference in each other’s domestic affairs, inviolability of borders, peaceful settlement of disputes, faithful implementation of international obligations and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms." The two presidents called for boosting trust-based high-level ties and expanding economic and humanitarian relations between the two countries’ regions, as well as for creating "conditions for the development of direct ties between businesses," educational and research institutions. Read more