MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. The agreements reached previously between the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan secured the economies of the two countries from a hard blow due caused by the global environment, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

"I’m sure that if we didn’t have all that we agreed upon earlier and within which we’re working today our economies would have suffered a much more serious blow than they’re facing today," Putin said at a meeting with President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on Monday.

"Our strategic partnership is developing incrementally despite certain challenges faced by the global economy, which affect our growth dynamics," Putin said. He added that Russia and Kazakhstan are making progress in converging customs rules and technical regulation. "All this can’t but produce positive effect," the president added.