RUSSIA-SUMMIT/CIS LEADERS Putin meets leaders of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan at SCO summit

Record ID: 147863

  • Title: RUSSIA-SUMMIT/CIS LEADERS Putin meets leaders of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan at SCO summit
  • Date: 10th July 2015
  • Summary: UFA, RUSSIA (JULY 10, 2015) (RUSSIAN POOL) VARIOUS OF RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN AND UZBEKISTAN PRESIDENT ISLAM KARIMOV, SHAKING HANDS, POSING FOR CAMERA (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING (PLEASE NOTE SOUNDBITE CONTINUES OVER SHOTS OF MEETING FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES): "Our relations are developing and they develop very successfully, Russia
  • Embargoed: 25th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2S4JFRJL45D3SE0WAMO4IZ4HC
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: PART AUDIO AS INCOMING
    Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday (July 10) met with the presidents of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Nursultan Nazarbayev and Islam Karimov, at the SCO summit, after Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev arrived in Ufa on Thursday (July 9).
    At a meeting with Karimov, Putin said Russia was Uzbekistan's major trade partner.
    "Our relations are developing and they develop very successfully, Russia maintains the position of the largest trade and economic partner of Uzbekistan. Last year - we count turnover of commodities differently - according to our statistic data it was around four billion, according to yours it was even six including gas transit. But anyway these are serious figures, if you also keep in mind that overall investments of Russian companies in the Uzbek economy amount to six billion dollars today," the Russian leader said.
    Karimov said there was an upward dynamic in the relations between the two countries.
    "Relations between Uzbekistan and Russia - taking into consideration some new assessments of prices for imported gas and everything else - from the point of view of prices it can be different. But one thing is clear - it is an upward dynamic. So if you regard our relations from this angle, they are very understandable, and I have to say there is a big potential for development," Karimov said, adding that common interests count above all.
    "Most important is common interests, the rest of it is, so to say, they are relations that are shaped by numerous factors, and to say that this is a constant opponent or opposition of Russian policy, I think, to put it mildly, this is absurd. So I am always happy to see you, Vladimirovich [Putin], in Moscow and in other cities," the Uzbek president said.
    Karimov also said Putin's organization for the BRICS and SCO summits was "unique".
    "Yesterday's meeting was unusual in itself and I would say unique, I would like to repeat that. And such a unique meeting, when the representatives of four continents met yesterday, is not just unique, it is - if I use fashionable wording - an event which only Putin could organise," he said.
    The Russian president also met with Nazarbayev and granted him a state decoration.
    "Our country, Russia has profound respect and love (for you), and as a sign of your achievements for the sake of our people, for the initiative that you showed from the start in the integration processes, which have been logically completed today, a decision has been made to grant you a state decoration," Putin said, attaching the decoration on the chest of Nazarbayev.
    Kazakh president thanked Putin, saying: "What we are doing, we are doing for us all."
    President of Kyrgyzstan, Almazbek Atambayev, arrived in Ufa late on Thursday, as he had to attend the funeral of his elder brother.
    According to Sputnik Kyrgyzstan news agency information, Atambayev's brother died on Wednesday (July 8).
    The BRICS summit, and a regional security meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Friday (July 10), offer Russia a chance to show it is not isolated globally.
    After annexing the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine last year, Russia faced sanctions that cut Moscow off from most Western financial markets.
    Russia's economy has been battered by the punitive measures from the West and a fall in global oil prices.
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