The Novosibirsk Expocentre Became the Place for Intergovernmental Dialogue
The conference was devoted to discussion of relevant issues related to developing comprehensive, mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia and Kyrgyzstan, which was emphasized in the welcoming address of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. According to the President, “such meetings enrich the high potential of the Russian-Kyrgyz strategic partnership, contribute to further development of economic, cultural and humanitarian relations”.
President of the Kyrgyz Republic Almazbek Atambayev noted in his address that the “results of the previous conferences had a significant influence on strengthening the interaction between Russia and Kyrgyzstan on national and regional levels, collaboration between our countries was taken to a new strategic height”.
That was the first time the conference was held at the territory of the Russian Federation. Novosibirsk had been chosen to host this event: the conference took place at the Novosibirsk Expocentre International Exhibition Complex.
Governor of the Novosibirsk Region Vasily Yurchenko stated that Novosibirsk is the third largest city in Russia, and it has all necessary resources and facilities to host such international events.
“Last year 74 exhibitions were conducted at the Novosibirsk Expocentre,” Vasily Yurchenko said. “We want Novosibirsk to become the main exhibition platform in the Eastern part of Russia, and we’ve already succeeded in achieving that. In a few years we would like people to think of our city as one of the most important, promising, and efficient platforms of Eurasian cooperation”.
The Governor noted that the Novosibirsk Region is actively carrying out international economic activities. That is conditioned by the advantageous location of the region. Novosibirsk features all types of transport, except sea routes: Trans-Siberian Railway, which literally brought Novosibirsk to life; the Ob River on whose banks Novosibirsk was constructed; the availability of highways that link east and west of the Eurasian continent.
Before starting the conference, its participants viewed the exhibition of companies working in the sphere of consumer and food product industry, power plant engineering, agriculture, research and education, which operate at the territory of the Novosibirsk Region, as well as arts and crafts from the Kyrgyz Republic.
Another important part of the conference was the plenary session devoted to discussing a wide range of issues related to inter-country and interregional cooperation between Russia and Kyrgyzstan as well as opportunities for further expansion of interaction within the Customs Union.
“External turnover between the economy of the Novosibirsk Region and Kyrgyzstan equaled about 40 million dollars in 2012, which is, of course, an unsatisfactory result since the potential of our collaboration is significantly higher,” Vasily Yurchenko emphasized.
Governor mentioned that the Novosibirsk Region intends to supply energy equipment for hydraulic power plants, agricultural equipment, and consumer goods to the Kyrgyz Republic. In his opinion, increasing the amount of crops and industrial products being supplied to the Novosibirsk Region will be of great benefit to Kyrgyzstan.
The first vice-prime minister of the Kyrgyz Republic Joomart Otorbayev noted in his reply statement that making the decision about allowing Kyrgyzstan to join the Customs Union would ensure further development of cooperation between our countries.
“It will be beneficial for all the countries involved in this process,” he said.
Besides the main plenary session, the conference also included discussions about the most relevant spheres of the Russian-Kyrgyz interregional collaboration.
Participants of the conference noted that conducting such meetings gave fresh impetus to the Russian-Kyrgyz cooperation that meets the interests of steady development of integration processes going on at the Eurasian territory.
