Kazakhstan's president expects trade turnover with Russia to hit $30B in near future

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Thursday that he expects the trade turnover with Russia to exceed $30 billion in the near future.

Speaking at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who arrived Wednesday on a state visit to Kazakhstan's capital Astana, Tokayev said this fact highlights the deepening economic partnership between the two countries.

"The volume of trade between Kazakhstan and Russia is reaching record levels — about 30 billion dollars," he said.

Tokayev highly praised economic interaction with Russia, saying the country continues to play a major role in Kazakhstan's development, noting that Moscow remains the leading source of foreign direct investment in the country.

"Russia is currently the leader in direct investment into our economy -- $29 billion," Tokayev said, adding that Astana intends to continue cooperation in that direction.

The two countries are implementing 177 joint projects with a combined investment volume of around $53 billion, he noted, adding that Russia's role in developing Kazakhstan's economic potential is "difficult to overestimate."

For his part, Putin described cooperation between Moscow and Astana within international organizations as "an example of constructive interaction in international affairs."

The Russian president also said attempts by Russia's "ill-wishers" to hinder the country's economic growth had failed.

"Despite attempts by some of our opponents to fight this, they themselves do not have everything in order," Putin said, adding that Russia continues to rank fourth globally in purchasing power parity after China, the US, and India.

Tokayev noted that Russia holds the top position in Europe by that measure.

Meanwhile, Kazakh Energy Minister Erlan Akkenzhenov told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting that the authorities of Kazakhstan and Russia are discussing the possibility of launching a gas pipeline through the country to China.

"We have begun discussing the so-called Power of Siberia 2, although its working name is probably different, a gas pipeline with a capacity of up to 35 billion cubic meters of gas running through the territory of Kazakhstan to the territory of China," he said.

Akkenzhenov added that they expressed their desire "for the transit to pass through" Kazakh territory.

"To this end, we are ready to provide all conditions and all guarantees, plus additional consumption on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan."

He noted that this pipeline would be important for Kazakhstan because it would provide an opportunity "to supply blue fuel to the northern and eastern territories."