Rustam Minnikhanov meets Akim of Atyrau region of Kazakhstan Serik Shapkenov

On 21 February, speaking at his meeting with the Akim of Atyrau region of Kazakhstan Serik Shapkenov in the Kazan Kremlin, the Rais (Head) of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov said that the republic highly appreciates an opportunity of expanding bonds with Kazakhstan within the framework of friendly Russia-Kazakhstan relations. He said that leaders of the countries Vladimir Putin and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev actively support interaction at the level of regions.

The Rais of the republic emphasized that the agenda of interaction of the republic and Kazakhstan is traditionally very full. “We can feel our good brotherly relations as Kazakhstan is one of the leading foreign partners of Tatarstan,” he added and emphasized that the republic and the region have many opportunities for the development of mutually beneficial partnership and first of all in such spheres as power engineering, petrochemical, machine-building, light and food industries, and IT.

Rustam Minnikhanov informed about the Center of Kazakh language and culture named after famous Kazakh poet, philosopher and educator Abay Kunanbayev which opened at Kazan Federal University last year.

He invited representatives of the Atyrau region to take part in the XVI International Economic Forum “Russia-the Islamic world: KazanForum” to be held in Kazan on 15-16 May and concluded: “I am sure that the participation in the forum will bring a good result for expansion of our trade, economic and scientific-technological cooperation.”

In his turn Serik Shapkenov thanked for hospitality and warm welcome and said: “We feel ourselves at home in Tatarstan. We have similar languages, traditions and habits. Our cultures supplement each other.”

He stated that the republic and the region have much in common especially in economy as both have well-developed oil industry. “Our regions should borrow best practices from each other and develop joint projects. We are also interested in cooperation with the famous Russian company KAMAZ,” he concluded.