After Kyrgyzstan's joining Eurasian Economic Union, opportunities for cooperation enhancing - Putin
MOSCOW. March 2 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that Russia and Kyrgyzstan have every opportunity to diversify bilateral economic relations.
"We will seek, as we agreed, to diversify our relations, and, to my mind, there are all reasons for this," Putin said at a meeting with Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev.
Russia remains the main trade and economic partner for Kyrgyzstan, the Russian president said. "Yes, we are observing some decline in trade in connection with well-known events and, first and foremost, it is caused by the exchange rate fluctuations, and, however, we hold the stable first place - over 27%, to my mind, the Chinese People's Republic is behind us," the head of state said.
Kyrgyzstan is a reliable partner for Russia, with which strategic relations are developing, Putin said. "After the accession to the Eurasian Economic Union the opportunities for cooperation are enhancing. I hope that this will be reflected not only in the indicators, but also in real life, the development of our economies and the social sphere," the Russian president said.
He noted that in this connection Russia and Kyrgyzstan were developing contacts favorably. "I also refer to the number of Kyrgyz citizens, who live, work practically on a permanent basis in Russia," he said.
For his part, Atambayev said that he was glad to have an opportunity to discuss with the Russian president the topical issues between Russia and Kyrgyzstan. "Because we have not just major economic volumes, but, first and foremost, we are strategic partners. I hope that this will always be so in the future," he said.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Energy Minister Alexander Novak and head of the Federal Customs Service Andrei Belyaninov from the Russian side also participated in the meeting.
