MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kazakhstan and China signed 25 agreements worth USD23 billion, aiming to move cooperation dominated by raw materials to products with greater added value, reported Ein News with the reference to the statement of the Kazakh president's office.
China has invested billions in mineral-rich Kazakhstan, mainly in oil and gas, and in infrastructure projects serving the industry.
"I think this visit is a turning point in the Kazakh-Chinese relationship," Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev was reported as saying during a meeting with Chinese businessmen in Beijing, including the chairman of Huawei Corporation and heads of several Chinese development banks.
"For over 20 years we have actively cooperated with China, mainly in the energy and resource-extraction industries. At the new stage, we are beginning to intensify our interaction in the processing sectors of the economy, including mechanical engineering and resource processing," he said.
Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna said it had signed deals worth USD5.1 billion with Chinese companies on transport and energy projects, covering the nuclear, metallurgical, and chemical industries.
In March, China and Kazakhstan said they had signed 33 agreements worth USD23.6 billion in areas from hydropower to steel.
As MRC wrote previously, in February 2013, South Korean petrochemical company LG Chem unveiled its plans to build an ethylene production plant in Atyrau, Kazakhstan. The project is going to be constacted in collaboration with two other Kazakh firms. The production is expected to begin in late 2016.
MRC