3rd session of Club of Friends: Kazakhstan, China see eye-to-eye on many issues
In his opening remarks at the event, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to China H.E. Shakhrat Nuryshev gave an insight into the key initiatives of President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
"The initiative on formation of the Economic Belt of the Silk Road signals the beginning of a new period in bilateral relations between Astana and Beijing... Today we can safely say that the new economic policy "Nurly zhol" and the initiative "One Belt, One Road" harmoniously complement each other," Ambassador Nuryshev said.
He stressed: "Kazakhstan sees eye-to-eye with China in terms of development of trans-regional communication in the entire Eurasian space. Our goal is to turn Kazakhstan into one of the largest business, transit, logistics and financial hubs in Asia. Creation of the multimodal transport motorway Eurasian transcontinental corridor will help facilitate that process. Established in December 2015, the Astana International Financial Center will become the centerpiece of Kazakhstan's financial infrastructure and serve as a financial hub of Central Asia and the Eurasian Economic Union."
Ambassador Nuryshev reminded that the National Plan "Five institutional reforms" is aimed at making Kazakhstan more investment-attractive in the future and creating a favorable business climate in the country.
"Our countries have a huge potential in terms of further deepening of their relations. Our overall objective is to make Kazakhstan and China more prosperous and to ensure regional stability," the Kazakhstani diplomat said in conclusion.
Former Ambassador of China to Kazakhstan Zhou Li, in turn, praised the outcomes of the 3rd session of the Club of Friends.
He said: "I think that the discussion on bilateral cooperation that we've had today will further promote mutual understanding between our countries and people. The Chinese side highly appreciates the fact that Nursultan Nazarbayev accepted Chinese President Xi Jinping's invitation to participate in the forum ‘One Belt, One Road". The President of Kazakhstan hugely supports the implementation of the Chinese initiative of shaping up the Economic Belt of the Silk Road."
As a reminder, the Club of Friends of Kazakhstan in China was established on November 10, 2015.