Prime Minister of Kazakhstan: willing to deepen cooperation with China in jointly building the "the Belt and Road"

Astana, March 13 (China News Agency) - Kazakhstani Prime Minister Bektenov met with Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan Zhang Xiao on March 13 local time.
Zhang Xiao stated that China Kazakhstan is a friendly neighbor and a permanent comprehensive strategic partner, and the relationship between the two countries is at its best period in the 32 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations. Last year, President Tokayev's two visits to China injected strong impetus into the development of bilateral relations. The trade volume between China and Kazakhstan exceeded 41 billion US dollars for the first time, a year-on-year increase of 32.2%, achieving the trade goals set by the two heads of state ahead of schedule. The freight volume of the China Kazakhstan Railway was 25.44 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 18.1%, and the container transportation volume was 1.48 million boxes, a year-on-year increase of 11.4%, which indirectly confirms the vigorous development of pragmatic cooperation between the two countries.
Zhang Xiao pointed out that China and Kazakhstan have similar development concepts, obvious complementary advantages, and broad cooperation prospects. Looking ahead to the future, both sides should take the high-quality construction of a community with a shared future between China and Kazakhstan as the main theme, continuously deepen cooperation in fields such as agriculture, transportation, new energy, automobile manufacturing, cross-border e-commerce, investment, and jointly research and implement a number of small and beautiful projects that benefit people's livelihoods. China is willing to provide firm and strong support for Kazakhstan to successfully achieve its economic development goals in 2029.
  At present, China has become Kazakhstan's largest trading partner and one of the top five sources of investment. There are over 3000 Chinese funded enterprises in Kazakhstan, and the two sides are jointly promoting the implementation of 45 cooperation projects, with a total investment amount exceeding 14.5 billion US dollars.
Bektenov pointed out that Kazakhstan is willing to continue to deepen cooperation with China in jointly building the "the Belt and Road", accelerate the construction of the third railway between Kazakhstan and China and the trans Caspian transportation corridor, expand the export of agricultural and livestock products from Kazakhstan to China, study increasing the number of direct flights between the two countries, reduce and eliminate trade and administrative barriers, simplify customs procedures, and create a good environment for Chinese enterprises to invest and start business in Kazakhstan. (End)