Russia and Kazakhstan agreed on the joint development of gas fields in North Caspian Sea

Vladimir Putin acknowledged the progress both sides have made in the mutual relations. He said that 'certain events' that occurred in the past year have made the relations closer. In particular, this facilitated "cooperation in transport development, power industry, and other important fields, including maintaining national security."

Kazakhstan's President stressed that "strong Russia is important to her partners and allies." "This kind of Russia, the powerful Russia, Russia that speaks out as a world power, is important to us, Russia's partners and strategic allies, in many ways, from all possible viewpoints," Nazarbayev said. He praised Vladimir Putin's annual message to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation where the Russian President managed "to address burning issues related to security, demography, and society."

The sides discussed a number of economic issues, namely, railway transportation rates and the cost of Kazakhstan gas imports to Russia. Putin and Nazarbayev agreed on the joint development of gas fields in the Northern Caspian Sea. This will allow doubling the sales turnover between the two countries, up to $20 billion. Russia and Kazakhstan have also reached important agreements in the sphere of military technical cooperation, particularly, the development of armed forces in both states and Kazakhstan’s importing Russian military equipment.

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