President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took part in the Kazakh-Chinese investment round table
May 18, 2023
Xi’an city, China
Opening the speech, the President greeted all participants of the event and noted that, despite the difficult economic situation in the world, trade and economic relations between Kazakhstan and China continue to develop dynamically.
– At the end of last year, the volume of bilateral trade reached a record high of $31 billion. China is one of the five largest investors in the Kazakh economy. The total investment is over $23 billion,” the Head of State said.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted that Kazakh-Chinese negotiations at the highest level took place yesterday and said that Kazakhstan has set a goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, and increase the share of renewable energy sources to 15% by 2030.
Having outlined the development of industrial cooperation among the priorities, the President welcomed the implementation of the joint project of KAZ Minerals and NFC for the construction of a copper smelter. Its launch will make it possible to reduce Kazakhstan’s raw material exports and process the entire volume of copper concentrate produced within the country.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted that the demand for rare and rare earth metals is steadily growing in the world, large reserves of which are in Kazakhstan, so we are interested in transferring technologies for their extraction and processing.
Kazakhstan President drew attention to the fact that in the field of e-commerce there are additional opportunities for the growth of mutual trade. Recent widespread restrictions and lockdowns have shown the extreme importance of developing this area.
The President noted that another attractive area of cooperation is the agricultural sector. Recently, an agreement was reached on the supply of 1 million tons of wheat to China, and this volume can be increased many times over. Along with this, over the past five years, the export of oilseeds from Kazakhstan to China has grown 3.5 times, vegetable oil – 2 times. The President announced plans to fully supply the domestic market with sugar and invited Chinese companies to actively participate in the development of the sugar industry.
During the event, the importance of developing land transport corridors was also noted. In this context, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev drew the attention of investors to the possibility of China entering the large markets of Western Eurasia through the territory of Kazakhstan.
In conclusion, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed confidence that today’s meeting would help strengthen the trade and economic partnership between the two countries.
During the state visit of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to China, 47 documents were signed for a total of $22 billion.