President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and President of Russia Vladimir Putin met in Bishkek on the sidelines of the SCO summit. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.
During the meeting, Tokayev emphasized the importance of developing humanitarian ties that have been formed over many years and even centuries. He noted that there have never been conflicts between Kazakhs and Russians, both in terms of interreligious relations and political relations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in turn, focused on cooperation in the humanitarian sphere. According to him, 60,000 students from Kazakhstan are studying at Russian universities, and a branch of Kazakhstan's leading university has been opened in Omsk.
The meeting of the leaders is taking place at the Ala-Archa state residence. Earlier, Putin and Tokayev last met a month ago, on July 25, at the XXII Russia-Kazakhstan Cooperation Forum in Omsk.