From: EurasiaDigest (digest@eurasianet.org)
Date: Thu Jan 13 2005 - 11:18:45 EST
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT DISCUSSES ENERGY, BORDER ISSUES IN KAZAKHSTAN
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev in Almaty on 12 January for talks that focused on energy cooperation and border delimitation, agencies reported. Nazarbaev told journalists that he supports increasing the capacity of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, in which Russia holds a 24-percent stake and Kazakhstan 19 percent, from 28 million tons a year to 67 million tons, ITAR-TASS reported. Putin said he supports multilateral talks on the Caspian because of the number and complexity of issues involved, "Kazakhstan Today" reported. Putin called energy cooperation a priority issue in Kazakh-Russian ties. Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko said President Nazarbaev will visit Russia on 17-18 January to sign a border-delimitation agreement, Interfax-Kazakhstan reported. Nazarbaev stressed that the issue is one of delimitation, not demarcation, and citizens of the two countries will still be able to cross freely, ITAR-TASS reported. DK
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