Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong visits Kazakhstan, Parties Announce Increase of Agricultural Exports to China 

Exports of Kazakh agricultural goods to China increased by 84% over the year. This was announced during a May 16 meeting between Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov and Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong.

During the same period, agricultural product turnover grew 1.7 times, with an additional 6% increase in the first quarter of this year.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Chinese President Xi Jinping have tasked their governments to increase trade turnover to $100 billion.

Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov emphasized Kazakhstan’s readiness to boost organic and eco-friendly agricultural product supplies to the Chinese market. The gradual lifting of China’s restrictions on Kazakh meat and poultry imports facilitates this boost. He also prioritized creating joint projects for deep processing in the agricultural sector.

Liu expressed China’s intention to cooperate in developing artificial intelligence, e-commerce, satellite communications, and green energy.

The parties focused on collaboration in the transit and transport sector, interregional and cultural-humanitarian relations, and expanding industrial and investment interaction through new breakthrough investment projects. For instance, 45 joint projects are currently being implemented for a total of $14.5 billion. Events within the Year of Kazakhstan’s Tourism in China also contribute to unlocking the tourism potential of both countries.

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On the same day, Liu also met with Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin, noting significant steps towards barrier-free trade, such as lifting restrictions on foot-and-mouth disease in February, allowing Kazakhstan to resume exporting high-quality livestock products to China.

“We invite Chinese business people to launch joint projects in Kazakhstan for the production and deep processing of agricultural products, including on the principles of production cooperation. We are ready to export grains and oilseeds, meat, poultry, dairy and fish products, honey, feed, and other types of food,” Zhumangarin said.

Wheat, one of Kazakhstan’s main crops supplied to China, reached 592,000 tons in 2023 and 220,000 tons in the first quarter of 2024. Over the past five years, the export of crop products from Kazakhstan to China has substantially increased from 750,000 tons in 2019 to 3.5 million tons in 2023.

The first Kazakh-Chinese grain forum, scheduled for June in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is expected to become a step towards strengthening cooperation in grain supplies. The forum will feature representatives from Kazakh and Chinese businesses, government agencies, and state-owned companies involved in regulating the export/import of grain and its processed products.

At the meeting, the Kazakh side proposed creating a joint subcommittee on cooperation in agriculture to more effectively realize the potential of interaction between the two countries in the agricultural sector. Creating a joint working group was suggested to promptly and consistently address emerging issues to ensure the subcommittee’s effectiveness.

The meeting also covered cooperation in transport and logistics, e-commerce, water conservation, cultural and humanitarian relations, and other areas.

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