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The second meeting of the Kazakhstan-Russia Expert Council (KREC) was held in Astana. It continues the discussion on the expert track of ideas formulated by the heads of state during the summit meeting, during the state visit of President of Russia Vladimir Putin to Kazakhstan. Putin's state visit to Kazakhstan. The topic of the meeting: “Kazakhstan and Russia: Strengthening Bilateral Cooperation”. 

Participants discussed key areas of trade and economic cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia, approaches to expanding partnership in the energy sector, joint solutions in the field of water resources, climate agenda and prospects for humanitarian cooperation between the two countries. The event is organized by the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan (KISS) and IMEMO, with the participation of MGIMO University of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. 

The Council is co-chaired by KISS Director Yerkin Tukumov and IMEMO Director Feodor Voitolovsky. The KREC meeting is attended by Artem Malgin, Vice-Rector of MGIMO University, Stanislav Zhukov, Ivan Danilin and Sergey Afontsev, Deputy Directors of IMEMO, Stanislav Pritchin, Head of the Sector for Central Asia of IMEMO, and leading experts from KISS, MGIMO University, VEB RF, Center for Euro-Asian Studies, and “TALAP” Center for Applied Research.

KREC was established on October 18, 2022, when a Memorandum of Cooperation between IMEMO and KISS was signed. It is a platform for interaction between two leading expert and analytical centers of Russia and Kazakhstan. The main purpose of the KREC establishment is to discuss issues of bilateral and regional agenda of Kazakh-Russian relations, coordinate research, and promote systemic cooperation between scientific and expert communities of Russia and Kazakhstan. The first meeting of the KREC was held on June 20, 2023 in Moscow at IMEMO, following which it was decided to hold KREC meetings on a regular basis. The KREC recommendations will be forwarded to government bodies of Russia and Kazakhstan.