President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Moscow on Feb. 8, 2013 and agreed to increase cooperation on numerous issues, including continuing the mutually beneficial cooperative use of the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
“Since December we have been discussing new tasks for the upcoming year. We gave instructions on the preparation of a new Treaty on Good Neighbourliness and Alliance and I hope we will sign it in Yekaterinburg. Progress is being made on all issues concerning the Single Economic Space and Eurasian Economic Union. In May 2014, an agreement should be signed to announce the creation of the Eurasian Economic Union,” Nazarbayev said.
The sides also reached an agreement to continue strengthening bilateral cooperation in all spheres of interaction and on further implementation of the Joint Action Plan for 2013-2015.
It was also decided to continue cooperation on integration issues, in particular on issues concerning the Single Economic Space and the beginning of the Eurasian Economic Union by 2015.
The presidents also agreed to hold their next meeting at the Forum of Interregional Cooperation in Yekaterinburg and discuss the progress of realisation of all agreements. The interregional forums of cooperation are held annually, with regional centres in bordering areas of Kazakhstan and Russia alternatively serving as hosts.
President Putin emphasised that despite the recent meetings, there are still a number of topics to discuss.
“The volume of our cooperation is huge, and I am pleased to note that it constantly increases. It definitely benefits our economies and our peoples. We have reached and developed a very good level of integration, which is successfully functioning. We have a series of key issues, which we have discussed today, and I am glad to have such an opportunity,” Putin said.
It was the first meeting of the heads of state in 2013. Earlier, at the end of January, Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov held negotiations with Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov and discussed the current situation and further cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia in political, economic, cultural and humanitarian areas. Afterward, Deputy Prime Ministers Kairat Kelimbetov and Igor Shuvalov met in Moscow, where the Kazakhstan delegation led by Kelimbetov participated in a session of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission.
