President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev gave an interview to Izvestia newspaper, El.kz reports.
During the interview, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev assessed the development of relations between Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. "Important features of the Kazakh-Russian dialogue are constructiveness and focus on a mutually acceptable result. We always try to take into account the position of our Russian partners, and they try to take our opinion into account”.
November 11 of this year will mark the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Good-Neighborliness and Alliance in the 21st Century. The treaty emphasizes the aspiration of Kazakh-Russian relations to the future. It is in this vein that the Head of State assesses the cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia – "... This is good neighborliness and alliance, which has a rich past and a brilliant future."
Regarding the project launched on October 7 this year to transport Russian gas to Uzbekistan through the territory of Kazakhstan, the President said that "the project will contribute to the expansion and modernization of Kazakhstan's gas transportation infrastructure, strengthen regional stability and energy security in Central Asia."
Russian gas supplies are in the interests of all parties involved. Kazakhstan is interested in the full use of its transit potential and is ready to further increase the volume of Russian gas transportation.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted that there are different opinions on the expediency of building a nuclear power plant. Kazakhstan ranks first in the world in terms of the volume of natural uranium mined.
"Many citizens and experts have concerns about the safety of nuclear power plants. And this is understandable, given the tragic legacy of the Semipalatinsk test site. We highly appreciate the assistance offered by the Russian side in the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan. And the final decision on this issue will be made based on the results of the announced referendum."
Kazakhstan is actively developing investment cooperation with various countries of the world, including the Russian Federation. "The gross inflow of direct investment from Russia to Kazakhstan over the past 18 years has exceeded $20 billion. In turn, Kazakh investments in Russia amounted to about $6 billion."
"Cooperation in this area clearly demonstrates the huge potential for the development of Kazakh-Russian cooperation."
In the interview, the Head of State elaborated on the issues of cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan in the cultural and humanitarian sphere, including within the CIS.
"An important unifying factor of the Commonwealth of Independent States has been and remains a common cultural and humanitarian space. At the same time, one of the components of the success of our mutually beneficial cooperation in this dimension is the existing balance of harmonious development of the languages of the peoples of the CIS countries."
The President noted that there is mutual interest in expanding cooperation in the field of secondary education. "Negotiations are underway to create joint Kazakh-Russian educational organizations in the southern regions of Kazakhstan. At the same time, we are interested in opening appropriate schools in the Russian regions bordering Kazakhstan, where a large number of our compatriots live."
Answering a question about cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
The Head of State announced the purpose and priorities of Kazakhstan's chairmanship in this organization. "As chair of the SCO, we pursue the main goal – to promote cooperation in the Organization to an even higher level and ensure the further effectiveness of its work."
"Based on this, the priorities of Kazakhstan's chairmanship were declared to be ensuring regional security and stability, saturating multilateral cooperation with real trade, investment, cultural and humanitarian content."
The President noted that the Russian Federation actively supports Kazakhstan's initiatives to create the SCO Information Security Center, declare Almaty the tourism and cultural capital of the SCO, and 2024 the Year of Ecology in the SCO.
"I have high hopes for successful Kazakh-Russian cooperation, which will undoubtedly affect the success of the main event - the SCO Summit in July 2024.", Tokayev said.