Kazakh president courts Chinese tech firms, highlights record trade, investment ties

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met executives of leading Chinese high-technology companies in Shanghai on Wednesday, highlighting record trade, growing investment and new industrial projects as Kazakhstan seeks to deepen its strategic partnership with China.

Speaking at a roundtable with representatives of the Chinese business community, Tokayev said bilateral ties had entered a new stage of development.

"Our bilateral relations have reached an unprecedented level. We have entered a new 'golden thirty years' of Kazakh-Chinese relations," he said.

According to the president, bilateral trade reached a record $49 billion last year, while cumulative Chinese investment in Kazakhstan has exceeded $30 billion.

More than 8,500 companies with Chinese capital are currently operating in Kazakhstan, including major firms such as CNPC, CITIC and Huawei, he said.

Tokayev highlighted several ongoing joint projects, including the construction of a large gas chemical complex with Sinopec, a deep corn-processing plant with Fufeng Group and a cotton-textile cluster with Lihua Group.

He also noted the growing presence of Chinese automakers in Kazakhstan, where production has been established for brands including HOWO, Yutong and JAC, while a multi-brand facility manufacturing Changan, Great Wall Motor and Chery vehicles began operations last year.

The Kazakh leader said the projects demonstrate that bilateral cooperation is increasingly focused on innovation, advanced technologies and industrial modernization.

Addressing the meeting ahead of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, Tokayev said Kazakhstan aims to become a major transport, logistics and agricultural hub linking China with Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East and Europe.

"That is our strategic goal," he said.

Tokayev noted that 13 international transport corridors pass through Kazakhstan and that about 85% of rail freight traffic between China and Europe transits the country. He added that Kazakhstan has invested more than $35 billion in transport and logistics infrastructure over the past 15 years.