Kazakhstan, China to intensify bilateral economic cooperation

ASTANA, September 27 (Itar-Tass) - Kazakhstan has managed to
strengthen political and economic cooperation with China since gaining
independence, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said at a meeting with
the chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's
Congress, Wu Bangguo, on Tuesday. Wu is currently on an official visit in
Astana.
"During these years many problems, such as the border problem, which
had long remained unsettled, have been resolved. You very well know that
the economic and trading ties are at the highest level now," Nazarbayev
said.
He especially underscored interaction in the energy sphere.
"Chinese companies are strongly present in the oil and gas sector. We
have built unique oil and gas pipelines towards China," the Kazakh
president said.
Cooperation by the two countries in the old and gas sector was
discussed at Nazarbayev's meeting with the president of the CITIC GROUP
(Chinese International Trust and Investment Corporation) Tian Guoli, which
also took place on Tuesday.
This company takes part in the development of the oil field
Karazhanbas, in western Kazakhstan. According to Tian, the CITIC Company
plans to go ahead with cooperation with Kazakh business "in manufaturing
industries, oil processing and other sectors of the economy."
In particular, the company is working on a project for a bitumen
production enterprise. The head of the CITIC Company said, "the future
plant will substitute for a significant part of imported bitumen in
Kazakhstan."
The company and the state-controlled Samruk Kazyna National Welfare
Foundation, of Kazakhstan, have set up the joint investment fund
CITIC-Kazyna.
"Its task is to search for advanced investment projects not only in
Kazakhstan, but also in China and all over the world," Tian said.