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Russia, Kazakhstan should boost trade ties — experts

ATYRAU (Kazakhstan), September 29. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia and Kazakhstan should broaden trade and economic cooperation as they address pressures on the global economy, president of south Siberia’s Altai branch of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Boris Chesnokov said on Monday.

“Russia is shifting a vector of its trade and economic relations to Asian and Latin America. I believe that in this aspect, trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan should become more intensive,” Chesnokov told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of a Russian-Kazakh business council on trans-border cooperation.

Commenting on the possible impact of economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union and the United States over events in Ukraine, Chesnokov noted that “if the influence takes place it will be insignificant”. “Trade and economic relations between Kazakhstan and Russia set a brightest, successful example of cooperation,” he added.

Deputy chairman of Kazakhstan's national chamber of business people Rakhim Oshakbayev voiced the same opinion. “We have established very firm economic relations. Moreover, we live on a common customs territory. We have serious instruments of supranational regulations, a common customs tariff policy and common technical regulations,” he told reporters.

“In general, sanctions imposed on Russia do not influence the strength of our bilateral relations from the formal point of view,” Oshakbayev added, while noting the negative impact sanctions had on global economics and subsequently trade between Kazakhstan and Russia.

“We witness a noticable drop in trade between Russia and Kazakhstan already for the first six months of the year. Lower exports and imports are explained by the economic climate,” he added.