ASTANA: Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Kazakhstan on Tuesday for a state visit and to attend the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
This is Xi’s fifth visit to Kazakhstan and the second one in less than two years, following his previous state visit in September 2022. The visit this time is expected to bring a renewed focus on the multifaceted aspects of bilateral ties and cooperation.
Calling the China-Kazakhstan partnership “unique,” Xi said upon his arrival here that the everlasting friendship of the two nations has grown stronger over time, and set an example of solidarity, mutual benefit, and mutual success between neighboring countries.
In a series of meetings scheduled with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Xi is expected to engage in detailed discussions aimed at further strengthening cooperation between the two nations. The focal points of these talks are expected to cover trade and investment, infrastructure development, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges.
“The leaders of our countries launched a new ‘golden 30 years’ of cooperation between Kazakhstan and China,” said Gulnar Shaimergenova, director of Kazakhstan’s China Studies Center, referring to a joint announcement by the two heads of state during Xi’s visit in 2022.
With Kazakhstan-China relations growing at a high level, it is believed that Xi’s visit to Kazakhstan will open up new prospects for bilateral cooperation, she said.
During Tokayev’s visit to China in 2019, the two countries decided to elevate their ties to a permanent comprehensive strategic partnership. Speaking at a daily briefing in Beijing on Monday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that it is expected that Xi’s visit this time will further strengthen bilateral relations.
The deepening mutual trust and political ties between China and Kazakhstan have been accompanied by a remarkable growth in their trade and economic cooperation over the past three decades.
China was Kazakhstan’s largest trading partner in 2023, with two-way trade up by 32 percent year-on-year to reach 41 billion U.S. dollars. Key exports from Kazakhstan to China include crude oil, metals, and agricultural products, and in turn China has supplied Kazakhstan with machinery, electronics, and consumer goods, according to Kazakh government data.
The Central Asian nation has also become a critical partner in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which aims to boost connectivity and promote global prosperity through infrastructure development and trade and investment facilitation. It was in Kazakhstan in 2013 that Xi first proposed the initiative of the Silk Road Economic Belt.
“This marked a magnificent chapter in Belt and Road cooperation between our two countries. And the development of China-Kazakhstan relations has since entered a new stage,” Xi said in a signed article in the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper and Kazinform International News Agency on Tuesday. –Agencies
