International Business News – Almaty, August 16, Mayor of Almaty Dosayev met with Chinese Consul General in Kazakhstan Jiang Wei and discussed issues of strengthening trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation, as well as partnership in the field of innovation and new technologies.
China is the main trade partner of Kazakhstan. The trade volume trade between Almaty and China is rapidly growing. According to the data for the first half of this year, the total trade volume of Almaty city with China increased by 51.6% compared to the same period in 2021 and reached $2.85 billion.
To date, 898 Chinese-owned companies are operating in Almaty. One of the key joint projects is a plant for the production of large-diameter welded steel pipes. The project was launched in 2021 and created more than 300 jobs with a total project investment of 33 billion tenge. By the end of this year, a new investment project for the production of radiators in the industrial zone is expected to be implemented. The project, with an investment of 11.6 billion tenge, will create 430 new jobs.
According to the memorandum of cooperation signed last year between the city of Almaty and the Chinese province of Sichuan, the parties propose to strengthen economic, trade and cultural relations and attract Chinese investors to the scientific and educational sphere.
Within the framework of new technology development and digitalization efforts, the city of Almaty and Shenzhen signed a memorandum of understanding in December last year. The current plan is to establish mutually beneficial cooperation, support local IT operations in both cities and develop programs for the implementation of smart city digital infrastructure projects.