On September 11-12 First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin took part and spoke at the 1st Interregional Cooperation Forum of Kazakhstan and China, which took place during the China-ASEAN Expo exhibition in the city of Nanning, China. Vice Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Zhang Gaoli also took part in the work of the Forum.

The Interregional Cooperation Forum was initiated by the Heads of States of Kazakhstan and China Nursultan Nazarbayev and Xi Jinping.

The leaders of the regions, who take part in the Forum from the Kazakhstan’s side, are the Akim of the East Kazakhstan region Danial Akhmetov, the Kostanay region - Archimedes Mukhambetov, the deputy akims of the regions, representatives of the ministries, national companies, business community of Kazakhstan. From the Chinese side - the heads of provinces, heads of state bodies and the largest companies of the PRC.

"The forum organized by the initiative of the heads of our states will give a new impetus to strengthening friendship, good-neighbor relations and strategic partnership between our countries," Askar Mamin said and noted "the importance of the Forum as a unique platform for bilateral dialogue and effective consultations on actual issues of interregional cooperation of the Republic of Kazakhstan and PRC.

First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan noted the timeliness of the Forum in the context of conjugation of the Nurly Zhol program with the project "One belt - one way".

"The initiative of the Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev to link the "Economic belt of the Silk Road" with the Nurly Zhol program allowed attracting investments and coordinating the actions of the two countries on infrastructure projects," A. Mamin noted and stressed the successful implementation of projects that increase the competitiveness of the economies of the two countries.

Noting the significance of the Forum as a foundation of economic development of the two countries, expansion of trade, investment, transport and transit cooperation, A. Mamin called the Cross-border Cooperation Program between Kazakhstan and the People's Republic of China for 2015-2020, signed in December 2015 "one of the most important documents of cooperation between the border regions of Kazakhstan and China."

"All 16 regions of Kazakhstan have business ties and jointly implemented projects with Chinese companies from different provinces," Askar Mamin said.

The First Deputy Prime Minister took part in the XIV exhibition of the Expo "China-ASEAN" and opened the national pavilion of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Kazakhstan pavilion is represented by 20 stands with various products of domestic manufacturers.

"Participation of Kazakhstan in the XIV "China-ASEAN" Expo will give additional impetus to the further joining of the Nurly Zhol and the “Economic belt of the Silk Road”, development programs of Kazakhstan, China and the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations," A. Mamin noted.

During his visit to China, the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan held meetings with the leaders of the largest Chinese companies such as China National Chemical Engineering Co.Ltd, China General Technology Holding Ltd, CITIC Group, Xin Xin Corporation, China Railways Engineering Group Co, TBEA Hengyang Transformer Co, etc.

Within the framework of the Interregional Cooperation Forum, the Chairman of the Kazakh meat processing company Batys Mark Lamb Rakhimzhan Ismagambetov and the Chairman of the Chinese company Zheng & Agrotechnology Co. Ltd. Li Xianming signed a Memorandum on the establishment of a modern feeding site for 30 thousand sheep for slaughter and export of mutton to China. The volume of foreign investments will make $47 million. The project will be realized in 2018. In the current year, the meat factory Batys Mark Lamb with the capacity of 1.5 thousand sheep in the shift has already begun to export mutton to Iran.

Also Chairman of the Board of Kazakh Invest NC JSC Maksat Kabashev and Head of Silver Tiger Capital Cui Lunfei signed a framework agreement on cooperation to create a joint investment fund with a capitalization of $250 million.

Chairman of the Management Board of Aitey Group Holding Seitzhan Yessimov and Chairman of the Board of the Stone Stock Hu Jing Pai signed the Agreement on Strategic Partnership.