Kazakhstan's Senate Speaker Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev meets with Chairman of Russian Federation Council in Moscow

Kazakhstan's Senate Speaker Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev has had a meeting with the Chairman of Russia&rsquos Federation Council, an upper house of Russian Parliament, Valentina Matviyenko as part of his official visit to Moscow, Russia, Tengrinews reports citing the press service of the Senate.

During the meeting, Tokayev and Matviyenko discussed Kazakh-Russian cooperation.

Kazakhstan Senate&rsquos Chairman called the good-neighborliness and alliance treaty between Kazakhstan and Russia a strong legal base for deepening of the bilateral cooperation.

&ldquoFriendly and trust-based relations between Presidents Nazarbayev and Putin provide dynamics for strengthening of our strategic partnership,&rdquo Tokayev said.

He called the bilateral partnership between Kazakhstan and Russia "exemplary" and said it could serve as a model of mutually beneficial cooperation and trust-based partnership.

Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko marked the ongoing active inter-parliamentary dialogue, both between the two nations and in the framework of CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly. "Russian-Kazakh inter-parliamentary cooperation is an important part of bilateral relations. Coordination of our work will serve to further strengthen it," Matviyenko said.

Tokayev supported his Russian counterpart by saying: "Parliamentary cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan is very crucial".

When speaking about the Eurasian Economic Union of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, Valentina Matviyenko called it &ldquovery important regional economic integration union&rdquo, which incorporates a market of 200 million people. &ldquoIt will allow our economies to grow more actively, become competitive, and provide a multiplicative effect to our efforts aimed at getting the citizens of our countries to live better. Our dear president of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev was the first one to propose the idea of creating this integration union. This project has already gained some real and concrete content,&rdquo she said.

Tokayev, in turn, emphasized the interest that a number of countries had expressed to the Union. &ldquoThe Eurasian Economic Union is a new geo-economic reality of global scale. More than 40 countries have expressed interest in creating free trade zones with the Eurasian Economic Union. We believe the potential is enormous, we just need to work to get the best of it,&rdquo he said.

Besides, while being in Moscow, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev took part in the Federation Council meeting, where he spoke to Russian MPs. 

"Our people and our countries share strong neighborly ties based on common historical destiny, geographical proximity, simular approaches to the current international issues and common vision of the future development of the two countries," Tokayev said. 

Kazakhstan's Senate Speaker Kassym-Zhomart Tokaev also praised the economic cooperation between the two countries, especially in the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. "Despite Western sanctions, the trade turnover between our countries has reached $19 billion. More than five thousand Kazakh-Russian companies are working in Kazakhstan. The two countries have been actively cooperating in energy, nuclear industry, space exploration, development of transit and transport," he said.

"We value our partnership with Russia, and we are going to hand over the baton of genuine friendship to the next generations," Tokayev concluded.

As a part of his visit, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev also delivered a lecture to the faculty members and students of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry. &ldquoKazakhstan bases its international policies on its national interests: to maintain and enhance its security, sovereignty and territorial integrity, political stability and sustainable economic growth,&rdquo he declared. 

&ldquoOver the last 24 years (of Independence), Kazakhstan has constantly advocated for a comprehensive cooperation for the sake of peace and security, and this policies will be continued," he said in his speech.

By Assel Satubaldina