Russian-Kazakhstani relations on the rise, Nazarbayev says

ASTANA, July 5 (Itar-Tass) -- Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev
praised the level of relations with Russia and said they were developing well.

"Speaking of Russian-Kazakhstani relations, they are developing very
dynamically, stably and upwardly," he said in an interview with Itar-Tass.

"There are probably no other as close relations in the world as there
are between our peoples, between Kazakhstan and Russia," he said.

In his words, former Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and he
"systemically built a legal framework for Russian-Kazakhstani relations"
over the past eight years. The two countries have set up 3,200 joint
ventures.

Russian helicopters and Niva cars are assembled in Kazakhstan. The two
countries are also integrating their financial systems.

"We have built all that. But a new period is coming, and we talked
about this with the new president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, during his
first visit to Kazakhstan after inauguration. All people of Kazakhstan and
I personally are grateful for that. This is a tribute to close relations
that exist between our peoples," Nazarbayev said.

He noted that Russia and Kazakhstan were faced with the task of
"boosting trade".
"Russia is the main trade partner for Kazakhstan, generating trade
turnover of 16-17 billion U.S. dollars and annual growth of 30 percent.

Now we need to bring it to 30, 40 or 50 billion U.S. dollars," the
president said. The full interview with Nazarbayev will be broadcast in Formula of Power on Rossiya television channel on July 5.