Russian-Kazakh interregional ties must expand in Eurasian Economic Union - Putin
YEKATERINBURG. Nov 11 (Interfax) - Russian regions and Kazakhstan should establish cooperation ties ahead of the upcoming launch of the Eurasian Economic Union, said Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"In order to maintain and intensify economic ties one should start up interregional and cross-border cooperation with due account taken of a new and more advanced integration format. I mean the launch of the Eurasian Economic Union at the beginning of 2015," Putin told a Russian-Kazakh interregional cooperation forum.
Seventy-six of Russia's 93 regions maintain economic ties with all regions of Kazakhstan, he said. Putin added that Kazakhstan has become the leading partner for many of Russia's regions, including Tatarstan, and the Sverdlovsk, Orenburg and Chelyabinsk regions, whose trade with Kazakhstan exceeds a billion dollars each.
"We must move towards creating technological-industrial alliances. We must build optimal production chains involving tens and hundreds of our companies," he said.
The Customs Union and the Common Economic Space have managed to lift many of the barriers hampering mutually advantageous cooperation, first of all in machine-building, Putin said.
Putin mentioned the launch of an assembly line for Russian helicopters and related maintenance services in Kazakhstan, and the assignment of these helicopters to the rescue service in Almaty, and also the joint production of medicines, as well as the construction of an enterprise to manufacture engines for locomotives.
He said businessmen from the countries of the integration organization have highly appraised the benefits derived from easy customs regulations.