President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Uralsk where he will meet Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and attend a forum of the border regions of the two countries. During his visit the governments of the two countries are expected to sign a cooperation agreement related to the Orenburg gas processing plant. Earlier Nazarbayev said that the agreement will provide for setting up a joint venture to process gas extracted from the Karachaganak gas condensate field. Several other intergovernmental agreements are also expected, namely on the construction of joint checkpoints on the common border and the procedure for border crossing by residents of the border territories. A Kremlin source told Interfax that Russian-Kazakh transborder interaction is a key component of large-scale multifaceted bilateral cooperation. The source said that border territories are responsible for up to 70% of trade turnover between the two countries that in the first seven months totaled $6.4 billion and may exceed $10 billion for the year. (Interfax)