OREANDA-NEWS. June 11, 2010. Dmitry Medvedev and Nursultan Nazarbayev discussed the agenda of the upcoming meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council of Heads of State, current issues in Russia-Kazakhstan cooperation, and international issues.

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PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Mr President,

The rather late hour is no obstacle to our discussing our bilateral relations. We do meet regularly as it is, but this is essential to keep such close countries as ours, strategic allies, on the right course.

I propose that we discuss the issues that tomorrow’s Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit will address, and talk too about how our countries are coming through the peak of the crisis.

This is all the more topical as we have the G20 summit coming up, and it is always important for me to know your position, seeing as we agreed that Russia will represent a consolidated position coordinated with its closest allies.

There is also our common goal of establishing the Customs Union and continuing our work to build the common economic space. We have our achievements in this work, and we also have problems that still need to be addressed.

I propose that we exchange views.

PRESIDENT OF KAZAKHSTAN NURSULTAN NAZARBAYEV : I fully agree with this agenda.

I want to look above all at the upcoming EurAsEC [Eurasian Economic Community] summit in Astana. We have a good agenda for the summit, including preparation of bilateral agreements in the nuclear industry, on uranium, space exploration, Baikonur. This summit will take place on July 4. In September, we will hold an interregional meeting in Ust-Kamenogorsk. Both of these meetings deal with important issues.

As for our bilateral relations, we are in intensive contact on all the different issues. Of course, we are also following closely developments in Kyrgyzstan. We are always ready to keep each other updated, and tomorrow at the official meeting of the SCO heads of state, we will discuss these and other issues regarding our relations in this region and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.