Bulatov, international observer

About ten years ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping made an important speech in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, and invited his neighbor to take part in the joint construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt. This initiative found a warm response in all layers of society in Kazakhstan.

Over the past 10 years, under the personal attention and joint leadership of the leaders of the two countries, China and Kazakhstan have successfully implemented dozens of important projects of diverse cooperation. In September 2013, May 2015, June 2017 and September 2022, Xi Jinping successfully visited Kazakhstan four times. In September 2019, Kazakh President Tokayev visited China on a state visit, in February 2022 to participate in the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, and in May 2023 to participate in the China-Central Asia Summit as part of a state visit to China. The exchange of high-level visits is a guarantee and advantage of the sustainable development of Chinese-Kazakh relations.

The “One Belt, One Road” concept covers a wide range of areas and opens up broad prospects for China and Kazakhstan to strengthen cooperation in various fields. In November 2014, Kazakhstan proclaimed its own economic policy, the “Shining Path”. The Belt and Road Initiative and the New Economic Policy “Bright Path” are largely compatible and complementary. China and Kazakhstan are constantly strengthening strategic alignment and deepening political communication, expanding bilateral cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, investment and trade, industry and transport, and humanitarian exchanges. There are many specific examples of joint projects.

On the endless plains of the Kostanay region, white wind turbines with huge blades spin in the wind and generate environmentally friendly electricity rise – this is the 50 MW Ibrahim wind farm project, invested and built by the Chinese enterprise HuanTai Energy. Entering the Kazakhstan market 8 years ago and now becoming one of the largest clean energy providers in the region, HuanTai Energy has built six new energy projects, including photovoltaic and wind generation, with a total capacity of 380 MW, providing 1.41 billion kW to the local population. h of clean electricity, reducing carbon emissions by 1.41 million tons and creating 3,000 jobs for local people during the peak of construction.

Electricity production in Kazakhstan is dominated by traditional coal energy. In recent years, due to the global energy transition in Kazakhstan, the need for clean energy has become increasingly acute. Investments by Chinese enterprises in the construction of the Zhanatas wind farm (wind power plant), Turguson hydroelectric power station, Akmola wind farm and other new energy projects are effectively helping the Kazakhstan energy industry in low-carbon transformation. According to China Power Kazakhstan Energy Investment Company Limited, by the end of 2022, the total installed capacity of renewable energy projects built by Chinese enterprises in Kazakhstan exceeded 1,000 MW.

China and Kazakhstan have established a special fund to increase production capacity. They implemented such large-scale strategic projects as the construction of a production line for the Jianhua automobile company and the modernization of the Chimkent oil refinery.

China and Kazakhstan are connected by mountains and rivers, and their economic structures are largely complementary. In Almaty and other large and medium-sized cities of Kazakhstan, advertisements for Chinese electrical appliances, mobile phones and cars can be seen everywhere, and these products are in great demand among Kazakhstanis. According to the General Administration of Customs of China, in 2022, the total volume of trade in goods between China and Kazakhstan reached 31.17 billion US dollars, an increase of more than 23% compared to the previous year. Kazakhstan became the second country to open a national pavilion on the Alibaba e-commerce platform, where more than 200 Kazakh enterprises are represented, and high-quality specialized agricultural products such as honey and fruit juices have been recognized by Chinese consumers.

The successful completion of the construction of the Chinese-Kazakh center for international cross-border cooperation “Khorgos”, the Chinese-Kazakh logistics cooperation base “Lianyungang” and the waterless port of the special economic zone has greatly facilitated the relationship between the two countries and contributed to the active development of Chinese-Kazakh cooperation in the field of logistics.

According to official statistics of Kazakhstan, in 2022, the volume of rail freight transport between China and Kazakhstan reached 23 million tons, which is a record high. The China-European Union high-speed shuttle train network connects the logistics network between China and many European countries, allowing goods from countries along the route to be “assembled” in Kazakhstan, opening up greater business and trade opportunities.

The Belt and Road cooperation has contributed to the development of Kazakhstan’s infrastructure, especially the connection of Kazakh-Chinese roads, rail transit transportation and international land and sea multimodal transport, which has laid an important foundation for accelerating the development of Kazakhstan and expanding Kazakh-Chinese cooperation in various fields.

Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Smailov noted that China is an important economic and trade partner of Kazakhstan, deepening practical cooperation between the two countries is of strategic importance for both sides, and both sides should further increase cooperation in the field of agriculture, digitalization and other areas, as well enrich the ongoing comprehensive strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and China.

In recent years, the “fever of the Chinese language and culture” in Kazakhstan continues to grow. Currently, there are five Confucius Institutes in Kazakhstan, where more than three thousand classes on studying the Chinese language are held annually. Learning Chinese has become one of the most popular professional phenomena in Kazakhstan, and China has become one of the most attractive destinations for students

Within the framework of the Silk Road University Alliance, many leading universities in China and Kazakhstan are engaged in close exchanges and cooperation. Universities located along the Silk Road are engaged in archaeology, cultural heritage preservation, scientific and technological innovation and many other areas, and develop interuniversity academic exchanges.

Cooperation continues to deepen in the fields of education, science, art, sports, tourism, press and publishing, radio and television broadcasting, audiovisual networks and film production. In 2019, the first joint Chinese-Kazakh film “The Musician” was released – a touching story of the sincere friendship of two musicians, which received a number of international awards.