8 June 2018, Beijing. The regular meeting of the Kazakhstan-China Business Council took place today in Beijing within the framework of the state visit of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N. Nazarbayev to the People's Republic of China.

The event was organised by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade jointly with Samruk-Kazyna JSC. Top managers of Kazakhstan national and private companies and about 300 representatives of the Chinese business community, including heads of the largest state corporations of China participated in the meeting.

"We are interested in further dynamic development of bilateral economic relations. Yesterday's negotiations between the leaders of the two countries and reached agreements once again confirm this and give a new excellent opportunity for business development of our countries. Kazakhstan is a country with a huge investment potential, and therefore systemic efforts are carried out to improve the business environment and the flow of direct investment. We are interested in further more dynamic development of bilateral economic relations. At today's fifth meeting of the Business Council, we plan to sign more than 40 commercial agreements worth USD 13 billion," Akhmetzhan Yessimov, Chairman of the Management Board of Samruk-Kazyna JSC, said in his speech.

In particular, Samruk-Kazyna JSC signed a memorandum of understanding with WintaGroup, one of the largest investment companies in China. The agreement between KTZ Express and JD Logistics is aimed at the development of logistics projects under the cross-border e-commerce, including assistance in transport and logistics infrastructure on the Khorgos-Eastern Gate SEZ. Airport Management Group inked an agreement with Beijing China-Russia united international logistics Co. Ltd on the development of air and freight traffic through Kazakhstan, including Rail Air project. Three more agreements were signed with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, CNPC Guangxi Petrochemical Company, and China Express Airlines.

“In the near future we plan to develop fundamentally new approaches in organizing the activities of our business council. They will be aimed primarily at enhancing our joint activities, strengthening the work of the business council,” Mr. Yessimov told during a round table with the participation of the Head of State N.Nazarbayev with Chinese representatives.

To date, Kazakhstan is China's largest trading partner in Central Asia. China takes the 4th place in terms of direct investment in the economy of Kazakhstan. The total volume of investments into the economy of Kazakhstan amounted to about USD 17 billion.