Illustration: Luo Xuan/GT
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is visiting China, a trip that began Thursday and will continue through the 11th Group of 20 (G20) summit in Hangzhou. One of the key items on his agenda during his China tour will be signing the cooperation plan to link Kazakhstan's New Economic Policy - Nurly Zhol, "The path to the future" --with China's Silk Road Economic Belt initiative. Nazarbayev announced the Nurly Zhol economic policy in November 2014, which to a large extent aligns with the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative. Both plans put an emphasis on tapping the potential of transportation and creating favorable conditions for economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries. All in all, the two plans are largely complementary.[Special Coverage]
Situated in the heart of Eurasia, Kazakhstan enjoys tremendous advantages when it comes to attracting investment. First of all, since its independence in 1991, Kazakhstan has developed an effective national governance system, which has allowed the country to maintain a stable political environment as well as solid economic growth. Second, the country passed a plan to simplify taxation and attract investment, which helped create one of the most favorable investment climates in the post-Soviet era. For instance, the Kazakh government introduced the most-favored-nation treatment in order to attract foreign investment. The country also set up a Foreign Investors' Council and has continued to improve national laws and extend the scope of where foreign investment can enjoy favorable conditions. The country ranked 10 among 186 countries and regions in terms of investor protection according to the annual Global Competitiveness Index.
Kazakhstan has also launched a program to improve transport infrastructure, which covers all modes of transportation, and plans to invest $40 billion in the program by 2020. Both the Western Europe-Western China international transit corridor and a railway line connecting Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan with Iran and the Persian Gulf, which began operations in recent years, may become part of the modern Silk Road.
China and Kazakhstan have enjoyed high levels of political trust in recent years, which serves as a prerequisite for Kazakhstan aligning itself with the Belt and Road initiative. China is a good neighbor to Kazakhstan and was among the first to recognize Kazakhstan's independence. China has always taken a unique position in President Nursultan Nazarbayev's pragmatic foreign policy. In August 2015, China and Kazakhstan signed a joint declaration on the new stage of comprehensive strategic partnership between the countries, taking ties between the two to new heights.
This high level of mutual trust has been reflected in the extensive cooperation between the two nations in multiple ways since they established diplomatic relations in 1992. For example, China supported Kazakhstan's bid as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and invited President Nursultan Nazarbayev to attend the G20 summit meeting in Hangzhou. Moreover, China has also offered security support and helped address border issues. It has also worked with Kazakhstan to jointly make use of cross-border river and water resources and lifted import restrictions for Kazakh agricultural products. China has also sought to expand energy cooperation with Kazakhstan and has implemented large cross-border transportation projects.
It has been proven that regional integration is still a driver behind regional and national sustainable economic development, despite a continuous decline in world energy prices and an economic recession. Aligning the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union may become a priority in transnational cooperation and bring new opportunities for further economic, trade and investment cooperation between China and Kazakhstan. I believe that after the friendship seed sowed by China and Kazakhstan sprouts, it will lay the groundwork for lasting peace and for building a fair and equal society.
By Shakhrat Nuryshev
The author is Kazakh ambassador to China.
