On September 2 in Beijing, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev spoke at the 8th meeting of the Kazakh-Chinese Business Council.
Tokayev said that last year, Kazakh-Chinese trade turnover reached a record high figure of $44 billion, and both countries plan to increase this figure in the next five years.
“China has already invested $27 billion into our economy. This is a very good indicator. I am sure it will only grow. More than six thousand enterprises with Chinese capital are successfully operating in Kazakhstan, including such corporations as CNPC, Citic, Sinopec, and Huawei. Not only large, but also medium-sized businesses are widely represented,” Tokayev said.
He outlined priority areas of Kazakhstan-China cooperation.
“In transport and logistics, Kazakhstan accounts for 85% of all continental cargo transportation between China and Europe… Kazakhstan is also in every possible way promotes the use of the potential of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. Last year, 4.5 million tons of cargo were transported along this route, 62% more than a year earlier. We set the task of bringing this indicator to 10 million tons. The volume of transportation through the Caspian ports of Aktau and Kuryk also increases. For Chinese companies, the use of transport and transit potential of Kazakhstan opens up great opportunities,” the Kazakh president said.
Another priority area is cooperation in the agro-industrial sector.
“Kazakhstan annually exports over ten million tons of wheat and about two million tons of flour. The Chinese market is of great interest to us. Kazakhstan has the potential for annual export of up to two million tons of grain to China. In addition to the export of agricultural products, joint processing is of particular importance for us. We invite Chinese partners to cooperation in the field of production of organic and high-quality livestock products,” Tokayev suggested.
