For his first foreign trip since being appointed, Kazakhstan’s new prime minister on March 4 traveled to Russia, where he was showered with plaudits about the robust health of bilateral relations.
If Moscow has any concern about Astana’s loyalty on the economic front, it is not showing any signs of it.
"Despite the turbulence in the global economy, Russian-Kazakh interaction is developing successfully,” Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin told his visiting counterpart, Olzhas Bektenov “Russia ranks first among Kazakhstan’s foreign trade partners. Last year, mutual trade turnover amounted to more than 2.5 trillion rubles ($27.4 billion) … and exceeded the record figure set in 2022.”
Bektenov responded with similarly effusive language.
“An important area is industrial cooperation. This has already become a hallmark of successful bilateral cooperation. Our governments will make every effort to implement agreements reached by the leaders of our countries,” he said.
Bektenov’s office developed this theme further by noting that companies from the two countries are currently jointly developing 135 projects with an aggregate worth of $26.5 billion.
“Furthermore, 67 joint projects worth $14 billion are being developed in key sectors of the economy, including in mechanical engineering, metallurgy and in the chemical industry. Thanks to these efforts, more than 11,000 jobs will be created,” Bektenov’s office said in a statement.
Russia prizes its relationship with Kazakhstan on its own terms, but it also sees its southern neighbor as an integral piece of an agenda to pivot its trading partnerships away from Europe and the West in general. Mishustin underscored this point by alluding to Russia and Kazakhstan’s “enormous potential for cooperation in the field of transport and logistics.”
“The most important transit routes in Eurasia pass through the territories of our countries,” he said.
Talks between Bektenov and Mishustin in part addressed the modernization of border infrastructure, and more specifically the need to improve the efficiency of cross-border transit. A plan discussed by the pair aims to see the reconstruction of 29 border crossings by the end of 2027.
"As part of our phased work, by the end of 2027, we will have reconstructed 29 out of 30 identified crossings, taking into account their workload," the Kazakh government statement explained.
Kazakhstan is also, meanwhile, being eagerly courted by the West for its potential to advance a competing agenda known as the Middle Corridor.
In keeping with that vision, European and other international financial institutions in January announced plans to invest 10 billion euros ($10.2 billion) into developing infrastructure enabling the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route to expand its potential.
Cultural and humanitarian ties also featured prominently in the discussions in Moscow, with Mishustin pointing out the education of over 60,000 Kazakh students in Russia as a testament to the strong connections between the two countries.
"This academic year, the government has allocated an additional 200 places for citizens of Kazakhstan in Russian universities," Mishustin said.
