China to help Kazakhstan develop infrastructure: Li Keqiang

During his official visit to Astana, the Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Li Keqiang has suggested to help Kazakhstan with the development of the country’s infrastructure, Tengrinews reports.

“We share the same fate and our economies are in many ways complementary to each other. I think China has a large market. On the one hand, it is significant for the development of energy and agricultural sectors in Kazakhstan. But, on the other hand, the development of Nurly Zhol program in Kazakhstan requires well-developed infrastructure. During the meeting with the President (of Kazakhstan) and the Prime Minister (of Kazakhstan), I emphasized that the development of infrastructure at a large scale was significant as countermeasures against the pressure of the economic recession in the country,” Li Keqiang said.

According to the Chinese Premier, China is ready to cooperate with Kazakhstan in implementation of the Nurly Zhol program. “I told the President and the Prime Minister that the development of the infrastructure would require cement and glass for the construction of housing. Also, there is a need for construction of a power plant. China has great experience in building power plants and production of glass and cement. I offered Kazakhstani partners to build these sites using Chinese materials, because China has high quality and very competitive equipment, ” Chinese Premier said.

In case Kazakhstan decides to use Chinese equipment, China is ready to provide financial support and help as a part of the public-private partnership.

“That is why I would like to instruct the businessmen present at this meeting to come to Kazakhstan (…) to take part in the development of the infrastructure. For instance, to create industrial or development parks. Moreover, China and Kazakhstan would be able to approach markets of developing countries together. It does not necessarily require attracting large corporations. We have highly developed small and medium-sized businesses. We are also ready to buy agricultural goods from Kazakhstan (...). I think that our partnership has great prospects. It is an excellent time for the development of our partnership,” Li Keqiang added.

Earlier, Li Keqiang met President Nazarbayev to discuss the key issues of the trade and economic, investments, energy, transport cooperation between the two nations.

As the part of Li Keqiang’s official visit, Astana and Beijing signed agreements totally worth $14 billion.

On December 15, Li Keqiang concluded his official visit to Kazakhstan.