Tatarstan President meets Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Astana

On June 12, during his working visit to Kazakhstan, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov had a working lunch with Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintayev.

“Please accept my congratulations on the opening of the International Specialized Exhibition EXPO-2017 in Astana. I am sure that in the next three months the capital of Kazakhstan will become the world centre of scientific and technological achievements and a platform for innovations in the power engineering sector. We sincerely enjoy achievements of the fraternal Kazakh people under the leadership of the distinguished President Nursultan Nazarbayev. We hope that the participation of our delegation in this largest international exhibition on Russia Day will contribute to further expansion of cooperation between our republic and Kazakhstan for the sake of strengthening friendship relations between Russia and Kazakhstan," Minnikhanov said at the beginning of the meeting.

Sagintayev thanked Minnikhanov for kind words and congratulated President of the republic and peoples of Tatarstan on Russia Day. He noted that Kazakhstan always appreciates fraternal relations with Tatarstan and friendship with Russia. The Prime Minister of Kazakhstan expressed his confidence that these good-neighborly relations will only grow stronger and develop in the future.

Two weeks ago, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan visited Kazan to participate in meetings of the CIS Council of Heads of Government and the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council. During his stay in the capital of Tatarstan, he had a meeting with Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, at which issues of bilateral cooperation were discussed. At today's meeting, the parties also exchanged their views on the development of trade, economic and investment cooperation as part of the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as transport and logistics potential.

Kazakhstan is one of the leading trade and economic partners of Tatarstan. "A lot of our companies are doing business in Kazakhstan, but other enterprises of the republic are also interested in expanding contacts. Unfortunately, last year the trade turnover between Tatarstan and Kazakhstan decreased by 13 per cent. We need to intensify our work to increase mutual trade," Minnikhanov stressed and thanked Sagintayev for hospitality.