Russia, Kazakhstan to strengthen border cooperation

The law enforcement structures of Russia and Kazakhstan have agreed on cooperation in borderline areas.

The decision was taken at the 2nd session of the law enforcing structures in the Russian Federation's subjects and Kazakhstan's regions, the Russian interior ministry said.

The session was held in the East-Kazakh city of Ust Kamenogorsk. The participants agreed on creating a mechanism for exchanging current investigative information and conducting joint investigative activities, and signed a protocol of the session on cooperation in borderline areas.

The session pointed out a difficult situation in such activities of the interior departments, as fight with illegal drug trade, organized crime, and illegal migration. More than 50 per cent of drugs coming to Russia are from Kazakhstan which is a transit point for smuggling drugs to Russia and further to Europe from the Central Asian countries of the "Golden Crescent".

The session was preceded by Russian interior minister Boris Gryzlov's visit to Kazakhstan, during which the parties worked out the main ways of solving the most acute problems of the Russian and Kazakh borderline areas.