Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov attended the meeting of the CIS Heads of Government Council in Moscow, featuring engineering projects and scientific developments of students from CIS countries studying in Russian universities.
The meeting discussed issues to enhance economic cooperation, promote transport corridors, improve the environmental situation, strengthen cultural ties and unlock potential, The Caspian Post reports, citing Kazakh media.
As the CIS countries prioritize trade and economic cooperation, Prime Minister Bektenov highlighted that the CIS countries make up one fourth of Kazakhstan"s total foreign trade as well as pointed to the necessity to lift trade barriers. Bektenov also stressed the importance of the interstate program Yarmarka Sodruzhestva ("Commonwealth Fair) held upon the initiative of the Kazakh leader.
During the meeting, special attention was placed to expansion of transport corridors, especially in West-East and North-South directions. Kazakhstan"s concept of integration of the key transport arteries of the CIS countries, set to boost the cargo handling capacity, was submitted to the CIS Executive Committee in October 2024.
Bektenov drew special attention to greater environmental cooperation, highlighting that addressing climate challenges and their impacts will contribute to sustainable regional and global development.
The trans-boundary biosphere reserve Altai can serve as an example of such successful regional cooperation aimed at preserving unique natural ecosystems. Established jointly by Kazakhstan and Russia within the territories of the Katon Karagay National Park and the Katun Nature Reserve, the Altai reserve was added to the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves, becoming Asia's first transboundary biosphere reserve, in 2017. As part of this unique project, research work, conferences and exchanges of experiences and best practices take place. Thus, the unique model of transboundary cooperation on preservation of environmental values within the nature reserves was created, said Bektenov.
Following the meeting, the Heads of Government of the CIS countries signed a number of documents, including cooperation aimed at promoting civil shipbuilding and producing ship parts, in the field of digital transformation of the transportation industry and so on.
The delegation heads got acquainted with the projects and developments of students at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, including the research cluster Quantum Park created to solve problems in quantum, photon and fluid technologies, the Caspian Orbit project by student Orynbassar Dhzantureev designed to introduce space monitoring technologies and rational use of water to address the shallowing of the Caspian Sea, "Green Cyberfarm" project by Amina Dzhekssembayeva, offering a robot-aided platform run on renewable energy to promote sustainable agriculture.
The next meeting of the CIS Heads of Government Council is set to take place in May 2025 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
