Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took part in the Kazakh-Chinese investment round table.
Opening the speech, the President greeted all the 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.
"According to the results 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 more than $23 billion," the head of state said.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted that Kazakh-Chinese negotiations at the highest level took place yesterday.
"President Xi Jinping and I had a fruitful exchange of views on a wide range of issues of bilateral relations, reached specific agreements, signed a joint statement. In general, it can be said with confidence that my state visit to China was a success. The agreements reached will give a powerful impetus to close cooperation between the two countries "Kazakhstan is interested in further strengthening multilateral ties with China. We will make every effort to achieve this goal. A number of large companies with Chinese capital are successfully operating in our country. Among them are corporations such as CNPC, CITIC, NFC, Sinopec, Huawei. Despite For this, we need to further strengthen the potential of our cooperation," the President said.
As the head of state emphasized, the oil and gas industry has been serving as the basis for effective relations for many years.
"In order to increase oil exports, we plan to expand the Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline. On the agenda are issues of increasing the throughput capacity of existing oil pipelines (Atyrau-Kenkiyak and Kenkiyak-Kumkol). In connection with the growth in consumption of petroleum products, it is also planned to increase the production capacity of the Shymkent oil refinery from 6 to 12 million tons per year. We have been successfully working in this industry together with CNPC Corporation for a long time. As priorities for Kazakhstan, we consider the increase in gas processing capacities and the expansion of the gas transmission system. In this context, it is extremely important to launch the second string of the Beineu-Bozoi-Shymkent gas pipeline "In addition, we are interested in building a gas processing plant at the Kashagan field with a capacity of 4 billion cubic meters per year,"the President continued.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev 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.
"The state provides comprehensive support for investments in this industry. In particular, we guarantee the purchase of electricity at an auction rate for up to 20 years. This tariff is set annually, taking into account inflation and changes in the exchange rate. We invite our Chinese colleagues to consider investment opportunities in this area," – said Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Having outlined the development of industrial cooperation among the priorities, the President welcomed the implementation of the joint project of KAZ Minerals and NFC to build 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.
“A favorable environment has been created for the development of the manufacturing sector in Kazakhstan. In particular, the Law “On Industrial Policy” has been adopted. Preferential prices for aluminum, copper and zinc have been established for domestic enterprises (5% lower than prices on the London Metal Exchange). Moreover, it is planned introduction of regulation of the export of these metals in order to fully meet the needs of the domestic market," the head of state said.
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, therefore the country is interested in transferring technologies for their extraction and processing.
"Given that China is the largest producer of electric vehicles, cooperation in the field of lithium mining is seen as promising. In recent years, the popularity of Chinese cars has grown significantly in Kazakhstan. Brands such as Cherry, Jac, Exeed and Haval are already among the top best-selling cars. Our cooperation in this area is reaching a qualitatively new level. Small-scale assembly of Chinese cars is being launched in Kazakhstan. Today, the companies of the two countries will sign the relevant documents," the president said.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev 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.
"It is extremely important to develop online commerce. Chinese Internet giants, such as Alibaba Group and JD.COM, have tremendous experience and potential in this area. Considering the competitive position of Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan proposes to use China's largest marketplaces more widely, which is important for joint promotion of products to international markets.Today, the National Pavilion of Kazakhstan will open on the JD.COM platform.Taking into account the prospects for increasing mutual trade, Kazakhstan is actively working to create new customs warehouses.In this regard, for logistical convenience, we offer all partners to place their goods in our warehouses.This will significantly reduce the time of delivery of goods to consumers from Central Asian countries to China and vice versa," the president said.
According to the head of state, 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 5 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.
"Undoubtedly, this method of transportation is very profitable. We attach great importance to the construction of a logistics center in Kazakhstan in the dry port of Xi'an, which will become the main hub for sending direct container trains to Central Asia, Europe, Turkey and Iran. We also plan to launch the Ayagoz-Bakhty railway connection in the direction of China. It is planned to overhaul the railway line at the Dostyk-Moiynty section, which in the future will make it possible to transport up to 20 million tons of cargo in this direction annually. I believe that the development of the Trans-Caspian route is important for enhancing transit between Europe and Asia. In addition, there are great prospects for the future,” the head of state stressed.
The President, inviting representatives of the Chinese business community to expand partnerships in the financial sector, told them about the opportunities of the Astana International Financial Center. Today, over 1800 companies from 73 countries of the world are registered in the AIFC, a tenth of them are Chinese companies. In addition, China International Capital Corporation (CICC) plans to open its regional branch in Kazakhstan.
In conclusion, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed confidence that today's meeting would help strengthen the trade and economic partnership between the two countries.
The Investment Roundtable was also attended by CITIC Group Chairman Zhu Hexin, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) Chairman Dai Houliang, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Vice President Shuknecht Ludger, POWERCHINA Chairman Ding Yanzhang, Chairman of China General Technology Holding (GENERTEC) Yu Xubo, Chairman of COFCO Jin Liu, President of Xuzhou Construction Machinary Group (XCMG) Lu Chuan, Vice Chairman of JD Group Wei Ye, Chairman of Sun Seven Star Investment Group Wu Zheng, Chairman of Xian Aiju Grain and Oil Industrial Group Jia Hei, Vice President of Great Wall Motors Zhang Junxue.
During the state visit of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to China, 47 documents were signed for a total of $22 billion.
By the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda
