Medvedev to participate in Forum of Inter-Regional Cooperation

MOSCOW, September 10 (Itar-Tass) - President Dmitry Medvedev will come
to Orenburg on Thursday to participate in the sixth Forum of
Inter-Regional Cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan.
The forum will be also attended by Kazakh President Nursultan
Nazarbayev. The Russian president's aide Sergei Prikhodko said that the
main topic of the Forum this year is energy cooperation.
"Thorough exchange of opinions on pressing issues will be the Forum's
main topic; priority attention will be given to energy cooperation," he
noted. "The Forum will also examine progress in implementing the Plan for
Joint Actions of Russia and Kazakhstan in 2009-2020," the president's aide
added.
It is planned at the Forum to mount the joint exhibition "Innovation
technologies in the fuel and energy sphere", which will be an important
instrument in sharing experience and pushing technologies and business in
Russian and Kazakh regions.
Medvedev and Nazarbayev will hold bilateral talks at the Forum. The
leaders will discuss a range of joint measures to ride out the world
financial and economic crisis," Prikhodko said. "The sides will examine
separately the topic of security in the context of efforts, taken by the
countries to counter terrorism and the drug threat, questions of water use
as well as integration aspects both of bilateral and regional
cooperation," he continued.
"The Russian and Kazakh leaders will also discuss plans for
implementing close orchestration of efforts in 2010 when Russia takes over
the presidency in the CIS and Kazakhstan in the OSCE", the president's
aide stated.
The sides are expected to sign six documents. For instance they
"prepare for signing an agreement on building and operating three power
units at the Ekibastuz district power plant-2, an agreement on cooperation
in exercising control over the Russian-Kazakh state border, a memorandum
of cooperation between the ministries of natural resources of the two
countries on preserving the ecological system of the Ural River and a
document on cooperation in the military-technical sphere," Prikhodko went
on to say.
"I don't think that discussion of military questions will take much
time; the economy will be the main topic," he stressed.
Annual forums, attended by representatives of border regions of the
two neighbouring states, is the distinguishing feature of Russian-Kazakh
inter-regional and border cooperation.
The first Forum of executives of Russian and Kazakh border regions
with the participation of the heads of state was held in Omsk (Russia) in
April 2003, the second - in May 2005 in Chelyabinsk (Russia), the third -
in October 2006 in Uralsk (Kazakhstan), the fourth - in October 2007 in
Novosibirsk (Russia) and the fifth - September 2008 in Aktyuba
(Kazakhstan).
Twelve subjects of the Russian Federation - the Altai Republic, the
Altai Territory, the Astrakhan, Volgograd, Kurgan, Novosibirsk, Orenburg,
Omsk, Samara, Saratov, Tyumen and Chelyabinsk regions - border seven
Kazakh regions - the Aktyuba, Atyrauskaya, East-Kazakh, West-Kazakh,
Kustanai, Pavlodar and North-Kazakh regions.
The above regions concluded around 200 documents on cooperation,
supplemented with plans for joint measures. Border trade with the Kazakh
side is responsible for 40 percent of trade turnover and inter-regional -
for over 70 percent.
-0-bur