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The return of the Great Silk Road

In the middle of October 2023, Kazakhstan President, Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev, took part in a 10^th Anniversary Forum for the global “One Belt, One Road” initiative.

The Kazakhstan President noted that the initiative had proved its worth, been recognised by the global community and transformed itself into an immense project on a global scale, becoming a vital platform for collaboration.

Over 200 documents outlining collaboration with over 150 countries and 30 international organisations. It covers two thirds of the planet’s population and accounts for 40% of global GDP. Nearly one trillion USD of investment, over 3,000 projects and 420,000 new jobs. And then there are nearly 40 million people who have escaped poverty and the “national places of interest”, “sovereign wealth projects” and “monuments to collaboration” created across the world. These are the impressive results of only a decade of work in creating the so-called modern “Silk Road” - the Chinese “One Belt, One Road” global initiative.

How the project came to be

The global initiative was launched in 2013, with Kazakhstan taking on the extremely important role of being the place where the world first heard of what is a mega-project. Furthermore, Kazakhstan was where construction was first started on the west-looking “One Belt, One Road” initiative.

In September 2013, Chairman Xi Jinping’s important speech in Astana’s Nazarbayev University on “sustaining the friendship of nations, working together to open a bright future,” promoting the “One Belt, One Road” initiative for the first time, became recognised as the starting point for major changes in many countries.

The initiative is closely linked to Kazakhstan economic policy and has allowed our two countries to achieve significant collaboration in many areas and become a successful model for the promotion of international partnership within the framework of the “One Belt, One Road”. Kazakhstan’s territory and infrastructure are an excellent platform for the initiative, offering five railways, six vehicle highways and 11 international corridors that cross the country, enabling Kazakhstan to become a major transit bridge between the East and West.

“Today, roughly 85% of all road traffic between China and Europe comes through Kazakhstan. By seeing its value, in the last 15 years we have spent over 35 billion US Dollars on developing the transit and transport sector. We have launched major infrastructure projects, such the Kazakh-Chinese logistics centre in Lianyungang, the Khorgos dry port, the Western Europe – Western China transit route, and a railway corridor between China and Iran. We’re definitely not resting on our laurels,” President Tokayev noted in his speech in Beijing in October 2023.

Reliable neighbours and true friends

The mutual collaboration and friendship between modern Kazakhstan and China have existed for over 30 years.

Kazakhstan President Tokayev’s first official overseas trip was to China in September 2019. In February 2022, he visited China again to take part in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, where he met with Chairman Xi Jinping.

Then, in September 2022, Chairman Xi Jinping made his first post-coronavirus overseas trip, importantly stopping off in Kazakhstan on the way. His trip was noted by the international community, underlining the significance and specific nature of relations between China and Kazakhstan. After discussions, the heads of state signed a “Joint Declaration on the 30th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between China and Kazakhstan,” confirming the two sides’ readiness to strive towards building an integrated future and the next “golden 30 years” of bilateral relations.

The leaders’ next meeting was in May 2023, when President Tokayev travelled to China to take part in a “China-Central Asia” summit, at which the two countries signed 47 treaties worth in excess of 22 billion USD.

Then, in October 2023, President Tokayev and Chairman Xi Jinping held new talks in Beijing, with the former noting that he “saw colossal potential for creating ties between Kazakhstan and China on a truly new level.” He also stressed that Kazakhstan was firmly behind the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, taking an active role in promoting it and congratulating the Chinese leader with its 10th anniversary and the “superb results” of the mega project so far. The parties also declared 2024 as the “Year of Kazakhstan Tourism in China.”

“One Belt, One Road” – results and achievements

Between 25 September and 12 October 2023, Almaty played host to a photo exhibition to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, giving Almaty residents and guests to the city an insight into the project’s impressive scale.

Projects have been initiated in a range of sectors, including in infrastructure and new technology, energy and agriculture, education, culture and healthcare. In this article, we have discussed only the most important of them.

Infrastructure

• The Transcontinental “Western Europe – Western Kazakhstan” Corridor, also known as the “Shuan Highway” is a major Eurasian road artery stretching 8,445 km from Lianyungang in China to St. Petersburg in Russia, crossing dozens of Chinese, Kazakhstan and Russian cities.
• The Chinese-Kazakhstan “Khorgos” International Centre for Cross-Border Cooperation is the world’s first cross-border border gateway zone and is unique in that it “covers two countries in a single step.” The centre incorporates restaurants, hotels, over 3,500 commercial outlets and entertainment facilities. Over 2 million people visited Khorgos in January-July 2023 alone.
• The Chinese-Kazakhstan logistical cooperation base in Lianyungang became the first “One Belt, One Road” initiative platform through which over 5,000 cargo trains were dispatched between China and Europe, giving Kazakhstan products direct access to the Pacific Ocean.
   

Energy

• Kazakhstan and China actively work together in the energy sector on projects developing Kashagan and the Aktobemunaigas fields.
• Another significant project, and a clear example of the two countries’ successful collaboration, is PetroKazakhstan.
• A consortium of Chinese companies won a tender to upgrade Almaty TPP No. 2 by transitioning it from coal to gas.
• Kazakhstan and China are working together to develop the Zhanatas wind power station, Central Asia’s largest wind power station project, to eliminate power supply and demand imbalances in the north and south of Kazakhstan.
   

Trade and agriculture

• Bilateral trade between Kazakhstan and China has been growing in leaps and bounds, registering 70-fold growth between 1993 and 2023.
• A special grain train carrying hundreds of tonnes of Kazakhstan wheat arrived in Lianyungang in February 2017, creating a major channel for the export of Kazakhstan grain to the east.
• More and more Kazakhstan agricultural produce is being exported to Europe on trains from China, promoting the construction of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative and expanding sales markets for Kazakhstan entrepreneurs.
   

Technology

• Chinese vehicles are becoming more popular in Kazakhstan, with some even being produced in Kazakhstan. As such, President Tokayev launched the construction of a multi-brand vehicle plant in Almaty on 15 November 2022.
• Many of China’s technology giants have representations in Kazakhstan. New VIVO V25 and OPPO Reno models have been presented at exhibitions, while Xiaomi has opened a number of stores.
• In September 2022, Huawei set up the first “Digital Silk Road” 5G exhibition stand in Kazakhstan as part of the Digital Bridge forum.
• Huawei has built the “Altynalmas” Container Storage and Data Processing Centre in Aktogai District to offer clients access to the best ICT solutions.
• Kunkun Digital Kazakhstan, which is the first overseas IT company in the CNPC family, provides high-tech services to a number of oil and gas companies in Kazakhstan.
   

Finances

• In September 2019, the Chinese Construction Bank opened a branch in Astana, becoming the first level-one commercial banking institution to receive an AIFC license.
  UnionPay and Kazakhstan’s largest bank, Halyk Bank, have issued over 3.6 million bank cards, and are due to launch the first salary card project in Kazakhstan by the end of 2023.
   

Education

• In May 2023, as part of the “China-Central Asia” summit, the Chinese North-West Polytechnic University signed an agreement with the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University to open a branch in Kazakhstan, becoming the first branch of the Chinese university in Central Asia.
• A Memorandum of Cooperation was signed in China in March 2023 to establish the first Liu Bang Workshop in Kazakhstan to train high-class transport specialists using modern Chinese technology.
• There are currently five Confucius Institutes operating in Kazakhstan, playing an important role in the development of friendship between the two countries and inter-cultural exchange.
   

Culture

• The Kazakh National Academy of Choreography in Astana, which was built with CNPC financial support, has become an excellent source of new Kazakhstan talent.
• Composer” is the first joint Kazakhstan-Chinese film telling the story of the friendship between the Chinese composer Xian Xinghai and Kazakhstan musician B Baikadamov in Almaty.
• “Landscapes of the Region” by Chinese author Wang Meng has been translated into Kazakh.
   

The details for this article were taken from official sources, including the mass media and the “One Belt, One Road” photo exhibition.