ASTANA, May 20. /TASS/. Kazakhstan in building the dialogue with Russia relies on strategic and friendly nature of relations between the two countries, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
"Russia is our key strategic partner, ally, which is why in our relations with the Russian state we rely particularly on that," Tokayev said. "This point was confirmed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit last November," he added.
"Very important agreements were signed, which are currently being implemented," the president noted, adding that he believes that "the agreements reached during the visit should be fully implemented." "Literally a few days ago I had a telephone conversation with President of the Russian Federation. We shared views on the development of cooperation between our countries in particular as well. We once again stated the necessary to properly implement all agreements reached earlier," Tokayev said.
Bilateral trade between the two countries is successfully developing, "having hit a record figure of $27 bln, though there is more to come, of course," he said. "Investment cooperation is actively developing," the Kazakh president noted. "Moreover, I would like to tell you that we meet with representatives and senior figures from the Russian business world. This is very important since as we speak about friendly nature of relations between our countries, mutual confidence should also be present in such an important area as investment cooperation," he concluded.