Tokayev sets $100 billion trade target with China in Xinhua interview

September 9, 2026 at 10:48 AM2 min

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Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced a target to raise bilateral trade with China to $100 billion in a written interview with Xinhua. He said Kazakhstan aims to shift from a raw-materials model to industrial and technological cooperation. The interview was published after talks on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Bishkek.

Key Facts

Kazakhstan aims to raise bilateral trade with China to $100 billion, Tokayev said in a written interview with Xinhua.
Bilateral trade approached $50 billion in 2025, up 11% year-on-year, and reached $27.2 billion in the first six months of 2026, nearly a quarter higher than a year earlier.
China ranks first among Kazakhstan's foreign trade partners, and Kazakhstan accounts for about 85% of all land transit shipments from China to Europe.
Kazakhstan plans to build a second Dostyk–Alashankou railway line and is continuing construction of the Ayagoz–Tacheng line, designed for an additional 20 million tonnes of freight.
The Kazakhstan–China investment forum will take place in Almaty on September 25, and Tokayev said he plans to attend.

Trade and Economic Targets

Tokayev said Kazakhstan intends to increase mutual trade with China to $100 billion and gradually move from a raw-materials model to industrial and technological cooperation. He described Kazakh-Chinese relations as being at an unprecedentedly high level, covering trade, investment, energy, transport, agriculture, digitalization, science and education. In 2025, bilateral trade approached $50 billion, an 11% increase, and in the first half of 2026 it reached $27.2 billion, almost a quarter more than the same period a year earlier. China is Kazakhstan's largest foreign trade partner, and Tokayev stressed that Kazakhstan is interested not only in higher trade volumes but also in changing the trade structure.

Transport and Infrastructure Projects

Kazakhstan handles about 85% of all land transit shipments from China to Europe, with cross-border rail freight exceeding 35 million tonnes and road freight around 8 million tonnes in 2025. Tokayev said the new Aral–Caspian mainline should double the capacity of the East–West corridor and cut transit time across Kazakhstan from five to three days. Kazakhstan also plans to build a second Dostyk–Alashankou railway line and is continuing construction of the Ayagoz–Tacheng line, designed for an additional 20 million tonnes of freight.

Digital and Green Cooperation

More than 9,000 companies with Chinese capital operate in Kazakhstan, and the industrial cooperation portfolio includes 260 projects with investments exceeding $62 billion. In green energy, 29 joint projects with a total capacity of about 1.5 GW have been implemented, and 11 more are under implementation. Tokayev named artificial intelligence, robotics, unmanned transport, digital medicine, smart cities, satellite technologies, e-commerce and data centres as promising areas for joint projects. A Kazakh-Chinese artificial intelligence school for gifted children is planned to be created in Astana in the coming years.