Maulen Ashimbayev, Speaker of the Senate (upper house) of the Kazakh Parliament, met on Sunday with Valentina Matvienko, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council, who arrived in the Republic on a two-day official visit. According to the press service of the Senate, the sides discussed bilateral cooperation and interparliamentary cooperation.
Ashimbayev noted that the relations between the countries are developing in full compliance with the spirit and principles of the Treaty on Good Neighborhood and Alliance in the 21st century. "Over the past years, we have laid a solid foundation for our strategic partnership. This is primarily facilitated by the personal friendly relations and the dialogue of trust that have developed between Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Nursultan Nazarbayev, the first president of Kazakhstan (leader of the nation - TASS), continues to give priority to strengthening of Kazakh-Russian relations," he said.
In turn, Matvienko stressed that Moscow and Nur-Sultan interact at various international parliamentary platforms, including the Interparliamentary Assembly (IPA) of the CIS. "In fact, the delegation of Kazakhstan is very active and effective in the IPA and in terms of developing model laws. Your experts and scientists take part in the monitoring missions and commissions of the IPA CIS," the press service of the Senate quoted the chairman of the Council of Federation as saying.
Productive cooperation
Matvienko noted "very lively and invariably productive" interaction between the two countries, "despite the pandemic that has not yet fully receded." "We are interested in developing bilateral economic cooperation, increasing mutual trade turnover with Kazakhstan," she said during the meeting.
The senator also thanked the leadership of Kazakhstan for supporting the development of the Russian language and culture in the republic, proposed to expand school and academic exchanges, noted the need to accelerate the coordination of the draft intergovernmental agreement on the functioning of branches of universities in the two countries. "We are grateful for the careful attitude and preservation of the Russian language and education in the Russian language in Kazakhstan," the Speaker of the Federation Council said.
Matvienko expressed gratitude to the Chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan for the initiative to hold a visiting session of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly in Kazakhstan on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the organization. According to her, such a trip may take place in the first quarter of next year, perhaps "closer to March". "We have an invitation to hold a visiting session also in Uzbekistan, we are determining the dates. But Kazakhstan stood at the origins of the CIS IPA and it is right and logical that we also keep this parliamentary tradition," - said the Chairman of the Upper Chamber of the Russian Parliament, recalling that the 25th anniversary of the organization was also celebrated in Kazakhstan. "We are happy to organize this trip. It is very uniting, it is very unifying," she added.
The parties also noted the importance of legislative support for multifaceted cooperation between the two countries, and discussed Kazakhstan and Russia's measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic, further strengthening cooperation in trade, economic, cultural, humanitarian and other areas.
The delegation of the Federation Council is on a two-day official visit to Kazakhstan. The program of the visit includes meetings with the country's leadership and parliamentarians. An enlarged session of the Commission on Cooperation between the Federation Council and the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan will also take place, with the participation of members of the Committees on International Affairs and on Defense and Security of the Federation Council and the Committee on International Relations, Defense and Security of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Federation Council
Based on materials from TASS