Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin held a meeting with a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Vice Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Han Zheng.

The topical issues of development of bilateral economic relations, the deepening of cross-border cooperation, including development Khorgos International Center of Boundary Cooperation were discussed.

Particular attention was paid to the industrial and investment cooperation in the framework of the conjunction of the Nurly Zhol economic policy and the Belt and Road strategy. A total of 55 Kazakh-Chinese projects worth $27 billion will be implemented. From 2015 to 2018, 12 projects worth $3.8 billion were commissioned, it is expected to launch 5 projects worth $310 million in 2019, including the construction of solar power plants, hydroelectric power plants, modern meat factory complex. Eleven projects worth $5.5 billion are at the implementation stage, preparatory works are underway for the remaining projects amounting to $18.1 billion. In general, the implementation of projects will create about 20 thousand new jobs.

For further promotion of trade and economic cooperation, the parties noted the importance of the II Kazakhstan-China Inter-Regional Cooperation Forum held today in Almaty with the participation of more than 400 representatives of government agencies and business structures of the two countries, including leadership of the Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Shaanxi, Guangxi Zhuang, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions. Mamin also stressed that the participation of the Chinese delegation in the upcoming XII Astana Economic Forum will give a serious impetus to the development of bilateral cooperation.

During the meeting, Mamin noted the need to strengthen cooperation in the development of transport and logistics competencies and transit corridors, energy, industry, agro-industrial complex, in particular, to increase exports of Kazakhstani agricultural products.

“China is a major foreign trade partner of Kazakhstan,” said Mamin. In 2018, the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and China increased by 11.1%, reaching $11.7 billion. In the first two months of 2019, trade volume amounted to $2 billion, which is 12.1% higher than the level for the same period of 2018. “We are interested in maintaining such positive dynamics.”