Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he was sure that Russia and Kazakhstan working together would manage to overcome current economic difficulties, TASS reports.
“The situation in the global economy is not easy indeed,” Putin said at a meeting with his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
“But I am convinced that framework conditions for functioning of the economy and social sphere, created also through your direct involvement in Kazakhstan and the whole post-Soviet space, will certainly help us to overcome these difficulties,” he said, adding that: “If we work together – the way we have worked in previous years – it will be easier for us to cope with the situation we face today.”
The Kazakh leader said the post-Soviet Eurasian Economic Union was living through a difficult period in the wake of a fall in hydrocarbon prices.
“Unfortunately, our union is now going through a great test as export prices fell in both Russia and Kazakhstan,” Nazarbayev said.
“We knew that there would be such risks, and there was a price distortion, and fluctuations. Thank you that after our conversation the measures were taken and all this stabilized,” the Kazakh leader said.
The Eurasian Economic Union brings together Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia. This year Kyrgyzstan is expected to join the bloc.
Nazarbayev also stressed that the governments of the Eurasian Economic Union member-countries need to agree on overcoming the crisis jointly.
“Our task now is to agree, and our governments should discuss these issues in a businesslike atmosphere. The current year is a time of big challenge for the Eurasian Economic Union, but we will discuss this with other EEU member-countries,” Nazarbayev said.
