Reply #3: Medvedev, Nazarbaev fail to heal fault lines

[xchrom]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/MD06Ag01.html

The leaders of Russia and Kazakhstan have announced plans to further develop their energy partnership. However, the two former Soviet allies remain slow to finalize some of their energy projects. Meanwhile, bilateral trade and Russia's trade surplus has increased.

During a meeting in Moscow on March 17, Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev and his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbaev, pledged to develop bilateral economic ties. They discussed a joint action plan for 2011-2012, including oil and gas transit, development of the Caspian shelf, nuclear energy and transportation cooperation.

Medvedev and Nazarbaev also discussed bilateral "strategic" projects, including the Western China-Western Europe system of


highways, the joint use of Baikonur space center and the construction of the new Baiterek space launch site.