The meeting was held at the venue of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly.
St Petersburg’s Tauride Palace, headquarters of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, hosted the meeting between Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko and Kazakhstani Senate Speaker Dariga Nazarbayeva.
The officials discussed issues related to cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan, including between the two parliaments.
The meeting was attended by Federation Council Deputy Speaker Iliyas Umakhanov, Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Konstantin Kosachev, First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Vladimir Dzhabarov and Acting Secretary General — Head of the IPA CIS Council Secretariat Dmitry Kobitsky.
Valentina Matvienko noted that Russian-Kazakhstani relations are developing dynamically based on traditions of mutual respect and good-neighbourliness. She stressed that in recent years they have reached an entirely new level of strategic partnership and alliance, thanks mainly to the first President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev.
The Federation Council Speaker believes that parliamentary ties are making good progress. Valentina Matvienko said that the work done by the Cooperation Commission of the Federation Council and the Senate of Kazakhstan was very useful.
The Speaker added that harmonising the legislation of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly member countries was among the assembly’s priorities. She also praised the high level of the parliamentary dialogue at the assembly.
Dariga Nazarbayeva emphasised the need for Russia and Kazakhstan to preserve continuity in bilateral relations on the basis of the agreement of friendship, cooperation and mutual aid. “We must use this foundation to continue building relations in all spheres, from political and economic to social,” she said, adding that this was also true for the development of interparliamentary ties between the two countries.