Milestone visit: Russia-Kazakhstan partnership will reach a strategic level

Moscow and Astana will become strategic partners following the state visit of Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Russia. On November 11, the President of the Republic arrived in the capital, and on November 12, Vladimir Putin will receive him in the Kremlin. At the same time, the signing of the declaration on the transition of relations between Kazakhstan and Russia to the level of comprehensive strategic partnership and alliance is only one of the items on the joint agenda. In addition, the parties will discuss strengthening logistical cooperation, the construction of nuclear power plants and the expansion of supplies through the gas transportation system, experts say.

The main topics of the upcoming negotiations

On November 11, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev began his two-day visit to Russia. The government flight landed in Moscow on Tuesday afternoon, and the President was greeted by First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov.

The press service of the leader of Kazakhstan reported that after crossing the state border, the flight was escorted by Su-35 fighters of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. By the beginning of the visit, the flags of the two countries appeared on the facade of the Ostankino TV Tower.

Tokayev arrived in Russia at the invitation of Vladimir Putin. The last time the leaders met was a month ago, on October 10, during the CIS summit in Dushanbe. Then the head of Kazakhstan said that Astana attaches "very great importance" to the upcoming trip to Moscow. After the personal meeting, the presidents called twice — on October 14 and 27.

On Tuesday, the program of the presidents included a meeting in the Kremlin for an informal lunch.

Full-fledged negotiations will be held on Wednesday. In addition, online politicians will participate in the plenary session of the XXI Forum of Interregional Cooperation of the countries.

The main topics of the talks will be the development of Russian-Kazakh relations in the political, trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres, and the signing of a number of bilateral documents is planned. A state dinner is also scheduled for the second day of the visit. All areas of cooperation will be discussed in detail without fail, said Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian president.

"The signing of a declaration on the transition of relations between Kazakhstan and Russia to the level of comprehensive strategic partnership and alliance will be a key item on the extensive agenda of my visit to Moscow. This document will certainly open a new era in bilateral relations, confirm an unprecedented level of mutual trust and joint readiness to work more closely in all areas," Kassym—Jomart Tokayev wrote in his article published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

The signing of the declaration is a very important step in modern conditions, when Kazakhstan is under pressure from all sides — a number of Western states want to aggravate relations between Moscow and Astana.

— It is very important that our partners are ready to strengthen ties. Despite the fact that Kazakhstan pursues a multi—vector foreign policy, the signing of this agreement indicates that allied relations with Russia will be at the heart," Dmitry Sidorov, head of the Department of Foreign Regional Studies at MGLU, told Izvestia.

Another topic of conversation during the bilateral meeting may be the results of the Central Asia–USA summit, which took place last week. The Russian side would be very interested if Kassym-Jomart Tokayev finds it necessary to talk about his contacts with American President Donald Trump, Dmitry Peskov noted.

How are relations between Russia and Kazakhstan developing

The strategic level of cooperation in relations is equally important for both countries, experts say.

— We have a long border and a high degree of interdependence. 90% of Kazakhstan's exports go through Russia. For us, Kazakhstan is the most important link in overland transit to Central Asian countries. Geography, history, and economics are all things that make our relations deeply interdependent," Stanislav Pritchin, Head of the Central Asia Sector at the IMEMO RAS, told Izvestia.

The Russian Federation is one of the three largest foreign trade partners of Kazakhstan, the trade turnover between the countries is close to $30 billion per year, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted. At the same time, Russian investors are leading in investments in the economy of the Central Asian country — more than 170 projects with a total investment of over $50 billion are being jointly implemented. High-tech plants for the production of polyethylene, butadiene, mineral fertilizers and other high-tech products are being built in Kazakhstan with the participation of Russian companies Sibur, Gazprom, Lukoil, and Eurochem.

According to the results of last year, the trade turnover between Russia and Kazakhstan amounted to $27.8 billion, which is 2.7% more than the previous indicator. Of this amount, $18.2 billion accounted for Russian exports and $9.5 billion for imports. Astana supplies machinery and equipment, chemical products and metals. Moscow exports food, mineral products, chemicals and timber. The share of national currencies in mutual settlements between countries is almost 90%.

"It is expected that documents on the construction of a nuclear power plant by Rosatom in Kazakhstan will be signed in the near future, issues of expanding supplies through the gas transportation system, expanding logistics projects within the North-South corridor, issues of economic and investment cooperation, and gasification will be discussed," Pritchin said.

North-South is an international transport corridor with a length of 7.2 thousand km. It runs from St. Petersburg to the port of Mumbai in India. The Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Iran and Turkmenistan have signed a roadmap for the synchronous development of the potential of the eastern route of this corridor for 2024-2025. Its capacity is expected to increase to 20 million tons by 2030.

As for cooperation in the energy sector, according to the head of Kazakhstan, it occupies a special place in relations with Russia. In this context, the construction of Rosatom State Corporation's first nuclear power plant in the republic will become an "anchor project" in the modernization of the country. Earlier, the details of this project were discussed at a meeting at the level of foreign ministers in Moscow. According to the head of the Russian Ministry, Sergey Lavrov, technical and financial parameters, as well as legal details, are currently being worked out by relevant departments.

Another vector of cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan is space cooperation. The Bayterek project has already entered the final phase of preparation. In April of this year, it was said that the first test launch of the Soyuz-5 carrier would take place in December. The start of full-scale operation of the new space rocket complex is scheduled for 2028.