Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk addressed the plenary session of the 19th Russia-Kazakhstan Interregional Cooperation Forum held in Kostanay, Republic of Kazakhstan.
Alexei Overchuk attends 19th Russia-Kazakhstan Interregional Cooperation Forum
The annual Russia-Kazakhstan Interregional Cooperation Forum is held to maintain and boost bilateral economic, cultural and humanitarian ties. This year, it focused on agriculture as the foundation of a strong economy. The two countries’ delegations were led by Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexei Overchuk and Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin.
President Vladimir Putin and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev opened the forum’s plenary session via videoconference. Alexei Overchuk and Serik Zhumangarin gave reports. The forum was attended by representatives of the two countries’ business and scientific communities, public figures, ministry officials and the heads of Russian and Kazakh regions.
Excerpts from the transcript:
Alexei Overchuk: President Putin, President Tokayev, forum participants,
I would like to welcome the forum’s participants and organisers and to express gratitude to our Kazakh partners and the city of Kostanay for the warm welcome.
The forum’s theme this year is agriculture as the foundation of a strong economy, which is logical amid the complicated situation on the global food market where our countries have a major role to play.
Russia is a key trade and economic partner of Kazakhstan. In January-August 2023, mutual trade amounted to 1.5 trillion roubles, an increase of 7.6 percent compared to the same period last year. In this period, Russia mainly exported food and agricultural products, metals and metal products, machinery, equipment, vehicles, chemicals, and mineral products to Kazakhstan.
In mutual trade, we are relying more on our national currencies, which accounted for over 75 percent of all transactions in the first half of 2023, with the Russian rouble accounting for 65.7 percent.
In view of the theme of today's forum, I will speak in more detail about food security. As in 2022, our country has seen a record grain harvest. This year’s crop harvest totals 147 million tonnes, which is important, given that Russia is a key supplier of wheat and barley to Kazakhstan. In addition, our country is one of the main suppliers of sunflower seed, rapeseed, poultry meat, and sugar and the biggest importer of pork and fermented milk products.
In the context of a changing climate, water availability is of particular importance for growth in agriculture. During bilateral meetings, Russia and Kazakhstan consider such issues as monitoring transboundary water bodies, implementing water management and water protection measures, and the joint operation and maintenance of hydraulic structures, and we approve programmes and plans for long-term cooperation.
Russia and Kazakhstan have established a permanent commission on the joint use and protection of transboundary water bodies. At its regular meetings, the members have reviewed the performance results of the working groups that focus on the Ural, Bolshoy and Maly Uzen, Irtysh, and Tobol river basins, and the Kigach channel. They also discuss ways to monitor the state of water resources in transboundary rivers and water protection practices to improve them.
Russia is also interested in addressing the Aral Sea issue and is ready to provide technical assistance in this area, including the introduction of energy-saving technologies.
The development of cooperation in agrarian science plays an important role in our bilateral relations. Our countries are mutually interested in continuing joint research projects in the selection and growing of industrial crop seeds, as well as production of fodder and feed additives for animals, and increasing the genetic potential of big cattle for specialised dairy breeds.
Since the 1970s, members of the State Commission of the Russian Federation on Testing and Protection of Selection Achievements have conducted acceptance tests involving 123 types of seeds. Following state seed tests in 2022, the State Register of Selection Achievements Approved for Use included 13 new seed varieties. The Russian Agrarian Research Centre Donskoi cooperates with the Institute of Plant Biology and Biotechnology of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Education and Science in expanding science and technological cooperation to jointly use new fodder crops.
Today, Kazakhstan grows five regional rice varieties, as selected by the Federal Rice Research Centre. We have tested Russian rice varieties in the Kyzylorda Region and have initiated production of the best ones. This made the Kazakhstani rice-growing sector more cost-effective, and Russian rice varieties account for 80 percent of the total crop.
Stable development of our countries is promoted by cooperation in energy. Russian natural gas exports, via Kazakhstan, to Uzbekistan began on 7 October. The Central Asia — Centre gas pipeline is the largest trilateral energy project that will contribute to energy security for the entire region, which is also important for the sustainable development of the agro-industrial complex.
Together we are becoming the largest and most reliable food exporters to markets in the Global South. This is where the economic centre of the world is shifting to, where the population and, consequently, the consumption of agro-industrial products are growing fastest.
For agricultural product exports, it is especially important to use efficient, time-saving routes. And here we see that Kazakhstan is setting itself up as a powerful logistics hub for Eurasia. We see Kazakhstan's current efforts to improve the infrastructure of its terminal facilities, seeking to increase rolling stock, remove administrative barriers and create better conditions for carriers.
Together with Kazakhstan, we are interested in developing the eastern North-South international transport corridor, which runs from Russia through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan towards Iran’s seaports. This route has been in operation since last October.
No less important for us is the development of transport routes towards the People's Republic of China. Agricultural markets in this country have started to open for our countries. These new opportunities need new modern infrastructure. We are working on a joint project for the new Ayagoz-Bakhty line, part of the Ayagoz-Tacheng-Karamay railway line and for a railway checkpoint between Kazakhstan and China.
We are also working on the development of our border crossing points with Kazakhstan and related infrastructure in Russia. There are problems here, but Serik Zhumangarin and I are working on them.
Within the Eurasian Economic Union, we are working with Kazakhstan to ensure common food security. We have adopted indicative balances of supply and demand for grains, sugar and sunflower oil, which guarantee the population of our countries these types of agricultural products, as well as the sale of our agricultural products in foreign markets.
Russia and Kazakhstan are key members of the Eurasian Economic Union. We are looking to the future together and are defining the goals and areas for cooperation in the agro-industrial sphere.
In particular, one of the main development goals is to provide the common Eurasian Economic Union market with key goods and resources and effective operations by ensuring the availability of food to the people of the member states; to develop trade and economic relations between producers and consumers of agro-industrial products within the EAEU; to promote the introduction of innovative approaches in the agro-industrial sector aimed at increasing productivity in crop production and livestock breeding, as well as the efficiency of production and sale of competitive products; development of infrastructure for the storage of agricultural products and foodstuffs; and cooperation aimed at developing the technological base for the agribusiness sector.
We will be talking about developing cooperation with the regions in Russia and Kazakhstan here at the forum today. We need the Russian language for cooperation and to conduct business at all levels. Now we can speak without an interpreter, without losing sense and meaning, and we can understand each other. We see the interest that Kazakhstan has in the Russian language, we have recently discussed this at our Intergovernmental Commission on Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan, and we are grateful to the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for the initiative to set up the International Organisation for the Russian Language, which was established at a meeting of the CIS Heads of State Council by agreement on 13 October. Now we have started a substantive discussion on the construction of three schools with education in Russian in the south of Kazakhstan.
More than 60,000 Kazakh students are studying in Russia. Recently, branches of such universities as, for example, Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas and the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute have opened in Kazakhstan. And during the last meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission, we touched on opening a branch of a Russian agricultural university.
Colleagues, I am confident that the agreements reached at today's forum will make a significant contribution to the development of both regional cooperation and all other areas of cooperation between our countries. I would like to thank the Kazakh side once again for the warm welcome, friendly atmosphere and constructive approach, and I wish the forum participants productive work.
Thank you for your attention.
