China’s President Xi Jinping has been meeting Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in the Central Asian state’s capital. In the meeting held at the presidential palace in Astana, Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his support for Kazakhstan joining the BRICS bloc. Kazakhstan is seeking to join BRICS and strengthen economic cooperation with its member countries.
Xi encouraged Kazakhstan to play a more active role on the international stage and contribute to global governance. This move is part of the BRICS bloc’s consideration of further expansion to counter what it sees as an outdated Western-dominated world order. Earlier this year, Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Umarov attended a meeting of BRICS foreign ministers in Cape Town, South Africa, on June 2.
During the meeting, Umarov stressed the importance of working together to solve urgent problems, highlighting the alignment of goals, objectives, and principles among BRICS, CICA, and SCO, based on international law and the UN Charter. Umarov shared that trade between Kazakhstan and BRICS countries was over $50 billion in 2022. During the BRICS meeting, Umarov met with then South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor.
They discussed strengthening political and economic ties, collaborating in multilateral formats, and shared perspectives on international and regional matters of common interest. BRICS represents 35% of the world’s land, 40% of the global population, and 30% of the world’s GDP.
The event was attended by BRICS member states and a group of states known as Friends of BRICS, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Gabon, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Uruguay. Kazakhstan was invited to this forum as the current chair of the CICA and the future chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Presidential Statements on this week’s meeting
During their private discussions this week, China’s President Xi Jinping mentioned that he and Tokayev met twice last year in Xi’an and Beijing, where they set new plans for the development of China-Kazakhstan relations, ushering in a prosperous period for the two countries’ relations. China considers Kazakhstan as a strategic and long-term partner and a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy, viewing the country as an important cooperation partner in Central Asia.
Xi said they would enhance cooperation with Kazakhstan in traditional and new energy, encouraging more Chinese investment to help Kazakhstan utilize its resources for green and sustainable development. Kazakhstan’s President Tokayev emphasized the historic significance of President Xi’s visit to Kazakhstan and described China as a friendly neighbor, close friend, and important strategic partner.
He mentioned the strong momentum in their relationship and the progress in trade, energy, agriculture, and other fields. President Tokayev expressed Kazakhstan’s readiness to further enhance cooperation with China in energy, minerals, new energy, and connectivity. He also conveyed Kazakhstan’s appreciation for China’s support and commitment to the one-China principle.
Before their meeting, Kazakh fighter jets created a colorful display in the sky to welcome the Chinese president. Six jets flew over the presidential palace, leaving behind red and yellow smoke trails, the colors of the Chinese national flag.
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is a large landlocked country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Its neighbors are Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. The capital is Astana, and the largest city is Almaty. Kazakhstan is the world’s ninth-largest country by land area and has a population of 20 million. The majority of the population is ethnic Kazakh, with a significant minority of ethnic Russians. The country is officially secular, with Islam as the majority religion and a sizable Christian community.
The national language of Kazakhstan is Kazakh, which is a Turkic language related to other languages spoken across Central Asia such as Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tatar, Turkmen, and Uighur. Kazakh is also widely spoken in some parts of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Mongolia, China, and Iran. It can be written in Cyrillic, Latin, or Arabic script. Russian is commonly used for administrative and technical purposes and is still the first language for a significant minority.
Kazakhstan is a member of various international organizations including the United Nations, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, North Atlantic Cooperation Council, Commonwealth of Independent States, Collective Security Treaty Organisation, and the World Trade Organization. Kazakhstan’s economy is closely integrated with that of China, its largest export partner. Due to historical and geographic reasons, it maintains close ties with the Russian economy, its largest import partner.
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