President Tokayev in Moscow: meeting with Vladimir Putin and reaffirming strategic partnership with Russia
Addressing top officials at the inauguration ceremony on November 26, Tokayev highlighted the fact that Kazakhstan will continue to pursue a balanced, constructive foreign policy aimed at protecting national interests. This, according to him, implies «mutually beneficial cooperation and strategic partnership with neighboring countries, including Russia, China and brotherly countries of Central Asia, with partners in integration alliances,» which he called a priority.
Russia is by far the largest trade partner for Kazakhstan. Not to mention, the two countries share a 7000-kilometer-long border.
Addressing the forum, which was taking place in Orenburg and was attended by representatives of sectoral government agencies and business communities of the two countries, President Tokayev commended the strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and Russia, which, he said, is based on «strong ties of friendship and good neighborliness.»
«Trustful and constructive dialogue has been established between our countries and a high level of cooperation has been achieved. We actively cooperate within international organizations and integration associations, which make a significant contribution to regional security and enhancing the role of Eurasia in global politics and economy,«said Tokayev.
Trade and investments
In his remarks at the forum, Tokayev emphasized that the removal of all restrictions and the creation of mutually beneficial conditions in trade is the key to the quality economic growth of Kazakhstan and Russia. He called the development of stable trade and investment relations as one of the priorities.
Tokayev mentioned the rising export restrictions among G20 countries, citing 47 restrictions on goods with a trading volume of over $160 billion between May and October. Cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia is strikingly different from global trends, said Tokayev.
According to him, in 2021, the volume of trade between Kazakhstan and Russia reached a new record value of $24.5 billion, while the first 9 months of this year showed a 5% increase in trade turnover.
«The range of Kazakhstan's exports to Russia has improved, the value of which exceeds $100,000. Compared with last year, the number of commodity items increased from 640 to 1,050 items. Deliveries to Russian regions increased by more than 2.5 times from Almaty and 5 times from Astana. Cross-border trade has considerably intensified. For example, supplies to Russia from the Aktobe region increased by 48% and by 36% from the Pavlodar region,» said Tokayev.
At least 17,000 companies with Russian participation and Kazakh-Russian joint ventures work in Kazakhstan.
Tokayev noted the growth in the inflow of direct investment from Russia to Kazakhstan, which last year exceeded the pre-pandemic level by more than a third, surpassing $1.9 billion. Investments from Kazakhstan to Russia, in turn, grew by 34%, reaching $535 million.
To date, 110 joint projects have been implemented between Kazakhstan and Russia worth $23 billion and creating nearly 30,000 jobs.
Interregional cooperation programs
Despite the relatively good indicators, Tokayev said there is still room for growth in bilateral cooperation. He called for «timely and bold decisions» to find «new points of growth» and in doing so, one of the priorities is to expand interregional cooperation.
«The activities of the sub-commission on cross-border and interregional cooperation should be strengthened. Among the key tasks of the sub-commission is the coordination and implementation of interregional cooperation programs,» he said.
The last meeting of the sub-commission was held in October 2019 and was suspended later due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tokayev also spoke about a system of trade hubs for the entire Eurasian space being created to form a modern and efficient sales infrastructure in Kazakhstan's border regions. These include Eurasia center of cross-border trade on the territory of the West Kazakhstan Region and on the border with the Russian Federation. Similar trade hubs are also created on the border with Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan and on the border with China.
These hubs will be logistically linked to the ports of Aktau and Kuryk in western Kazakhstan, participating in the distribution of export-import flows with the Caspian countries, as well as with Türkiye and Europe.
Work is ongoing as well to create a modern container hub in the Aktau Sea Port special economic zone. «We plan to develop international trade and production clusters on their basis in an integrated way,» he added.
Border infrastructure and logistic chains
Another priority is improving border infrastructure and expanding the capacity of border crossings between Kazakhstan and Russia.
Five international railway and 8 automobile transit corridors operate in Kazakhstan. Of these, 3 rail corridors and 6 road corridors are synchronized with the corridors passing through the territory of Russia.
According to the data from the Kazakh Ministry of Trade and Integration, for 10 months of 2022, the total volume of traffic in the direction of Russia - Central Asia, Russia - China, Russia - Iran and Russia - Afghanistan was 8.9 million tons.
«We believe that this work should be carried out in view of the transnational corridors being formed, including within the Belt and Road initiative and the North-South route, and to link these routes with the Eurasian Economic Union activities,» said Tokayev.
Kazakhstan and Russia are both members of the Eurasian Economic Union and both play key roles in the North-South route, 7,200 kilometers long corridor connecting India and Russia through Iran and Azerbaijan.
The project was established in 2000 by Russia, India and Iran to create a corridor shorter than the maritime Suez Canal transportation route in an effort to reduce the time and transportation costs of trade in goods. Later on, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Oman, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, and Türkiye joined the project.
Addressing the forum, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Trade and Integration Serik Zhumangarin said Kazakhstan had launched the eastern part of the corridor through the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railroad in June when it gave a start to a pilot train of 40 units of 40-foot containers with construction materials from Russia to India.
The average transit time on the route to the port of Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf is 10 days.
For 9 months of 2022, 79,200 tons of cargo was transported along this route, 8 times more than last year, the ministry’s data shows.
«At the same time, the successful development of the transport corridor is hindered by several barriers of an infrastructural and non-physical nature. Experts count more than 40 of them today. As a result, almost 50 percent of our transit time is spent on border crossings and administrative procedures, doubling the duration of road and rail transport,» said the minister.
Tokayev’s meeting with Putin
During his one-on-one meeting with Putin, Tokayev said the visit to Russia, the first foreign visit since his re-election, has «profound political significance.»
«Of course, this visit has a particular symbolism. On the other hand, it is natural, given the cooperation between our two countries. This year we have celebrated 30 years of diplomatic relations. Today we sign the declaration, which is dedicated to this historic date,» said Tokayev.
He emphasized that Russia has been and remains Kazakhstan’s major strategic partner.
«There are very big plans for the presence of Russian capital in our country. As head of state, my government and I will do everything possible to ensure this presence on a permanent basis, naturally, in terms of mutual benefit. There is every reason to be satisfied with how cooperation between the countries is developing. At the same time, we need to look ahead, and that's exactly the reason why I came here,» said Tokayev.
Vladimir Putin also noted the «special nature» of relations between the countries.
«Of course, we meet with the President of Kazakhstan regularly. We have met recently. We always use any of our meetings to discuss current affairs. And above all, of course, we are talking about the economy because that is the basis for all our other successes in all areas. We appreciate that,» said Putin.
Key documents signed
The interregional forum in Orenburg witnessed the signing of 7 interregional and 10 commercial documents for a total of 23.3 billion tenge ($49 million), including an agreement on trade and economic, scientific and technical, cultural and humanitarian cooperation between Kazakhstan's Aktobe Region and Russia’s Orenburg Region, between Kazakhstan’s Abai Region and Russia’s Altai Krai, between Kazakhstan’s Ulytau Region and Russia’s Novgorod Region, and between West Kazakhstan Region and Russia’s Volgograd Region.
Agreements were also signed on constructing a plant to produce light steel thin-walled structures between the North Kazakhstan region’s akimat and the LSTK plant in Lipetsk, Russia, on delivery of bakery and confectionary products as well as supply of trucks, municipal, specialized and construction equipment.
After his visit to Russia, President Tokayev is expected to pay an official visit to Paris. In Paris, the Kazakh leader is expected to hold talks with President of France Emmanuel Macron to discuss prospects for the development of strategic partnerships in trade and economic, investment and humanitarian spheres.
Written by Assel Satubaldina
Photo: akorda.kz