Alternative energy will not replace traditional energy: Nazarbayev

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that dependence on raw materials should not be viewed as a problem, Tengrinews correspondent reports from XI Forum of Interregional Cooperation of Russia and Kazakhstan in Atyrau, Kazakhstan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also came to Atyrau to meet with his Kazakhstani counterpart.

Nazarbayev said that alternative energy would not replace the traditional one. According to the President, both Kazakhstan and Russia have "abundant coal deposits enough for hundreds of years."

"Oil and gas is our main forte. And we do not need to fear that we are [producing] "raw” [materials]. And thank God we have these raw materials that we can export to make money. This money is necessary to create a modern industry," the President of Kazakhstan said.

"We have just discussed the issue of innovation in the industry. We have been producing for so many years that our experience is vast. I remember that during the Soviet period we bought equipment in Romania. The point was that their steel pipes were corrosion-resistent and sulfuric acid-resistant. But our metallurgy has long been making these. I am telling you this as a former metallurgist,” Nazarbayev said.

And the case of "deep drilling that we are so much dependent upon. What does it involve? Equipment again. So we have great prospects in the oil and gas industry innovation," Nazarbayev said.

Summarizing the results of the forum, Nazarbayev stressed that Kazakhstan and Russia would always be allies.

"I am confident that Kazakhstan and Russia were, are and always will be strategic partners, allies and good neighbors who will work closely for the benefit of both nations and for the sake of their future. And progress  together," Nazarbayev said.
 
Reporting by Assemgul Kassenova, writing by Dinara Urazova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina