ALMATY. February 15. KAZINFORM /Kadyrzhan Smagulov/ China has been one of the important investors in the economy of Kazakhstan during the crisis period. Therefore the issue on further development of bilateral cooperation becomes the topical one in the foreign policy of the country. Chief research officer of Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Kazakhstan Konstantin Syroyezhkin shared his view on this issue with Kazinform.

Last December President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and President of the People's Republic of China Hu Jintao officially launched Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline. What role does the gas pipeline play for our country?

The gas pipeline is a part of common system for gas transportation from Central Asia to China. Our country is a transit state and this is our first benefit. Secondly, according to the reached agreements the part of gas from overall volume of pumping to China will be used for supply of southern regions of Kazakhstan before the launch of Beineu-Samsonovka gas pipeline. This is the second benefit. Thirdly, China invests in the construction of Beineu-Samsonovka gas pipeline. Since this is the Kazakhstani gas pipeline there will be additional infrastructure and working places. Certainly, it is necessary to reimburse the loan to China, but as far as I understand it will be compensated off with gas.

Following the results of 2008 the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and China reached USD 17 bln. Whether this index will decrease after the launch of the Customs Union of Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus?

According to the data from China, the trade turnover made USD 17 bln 550 mln. As for the question itself it is impossible to predict how the Customs Union will work. I do not exclude that the volume of trade with China will be reduced somewhat as far as our customs rates were significantly lower.

China and Kazakhstan are interested in the development of transport and communication infrastructures. In this regard, what other additional projects both states could develop in this field? China is one of the largest investors in Kazakhstan's economy. What branches of the national economy are invested by the Chinese side?

It is the light railway from China to Iran, the project of which was proposed by Kazakhstan in 2005. The idea is perspective enough, plus the possible reconstruction of our highways and construction of autobahns. In 2007 a cooperation program for non-oil-and-gas industries was approved in China. China is ready to invest about USD 3.5 bln in these projects. I see great perspectives in agricultural cooperation. In this sphere we are rather competitive with China. There can be several projects in knowledge-intensive industries as bioengineering, genetics, oil refining and etc.; whereas Kazakhstan has its own projects in these fields. From my opinion, any projects are perspective in case they are absolutely transparent and profitable for Kazakhstan.

What role does Kazakhstan play in the foreign policy conception of China?

Now we cooperate with China on the basis of its old conception on "friendly, safe and rich neighborhood" proposed at the 16^th session of the Communist Party of China in 2002. The only thing it was updated with was the concept of Hu Jintao on construction of "harmonic world". Many enterprises with participation of Kazakhstan's capital are rather successful. It is natural, that market surveillance and preliminary market research are necessary. As a whole, it is necessary to study China seriously as far as we know little about this country.

Thank you for the interview.