Draft Intergovernmental Memorandum On Russian-kazakh Cooperation In Gas Field Submitted To The Russian Government, Reports Igor Yusufov

The draft of an intergovernmental memorandum on cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan in the gas field has already been submitted to the Russian government, energy minister Igor Yusufov reported on Wednesday. On October 10 in Moscow Yusufov discussed the state and prospects of Russian-Kazakh cooperation with a Kazakh delegation led by vice premier, energy and mineral resources minister Vladimir Shkolnik, a spokesman for the Russian energy ministry told RIA Novosti. During the meeting it was noted that there were no problems between Russia and Kazakhstan in the sphere of power engineering. The sides noted the positive dynamics of relations in the sphere of cooperation between the two states' fuel and energy complexes, first of all, in the oil and gas field. The participants in the talks were also unanimous in their opinion of the need to speed up the drafting of a long-term agreement on oil transit via Russia. The participants in the dialogue are convinced that the mutual exchange of information needed to form the fuel and energy complexes of Russia and Kazakhstan, and in a wider aspect - participation of other CIS countries - is becoming a top priority. During the talks the sides also stressed the great importance of commissioning in the near future the export pipeline system of the Caspian pipeline consortium for further expanding mutually-advantageous cooperation between the two countries. The sides expressed the hope that in the near future they would be able to sign a memorandum on cooperation in the gas field and the next protocol on cooperation between the two countries' energy ministries.