Astana, Shanghai urged to step up digital economy cooperation

SHANGHAI. KAZINFORM - Vice Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Zhumagaliyev held talks this week with Vice Mayor of Shanghai Xu Kunlin, Kazinform correspondent in China reports. 

During the talks, the sides discussed Kazakhstan and China's expertise and prospects for the development of cooperation in the sphere of digital economy, smart cities, smart and e-Government.

Askar Zhumagaliyev gave Xu Kunlin an insight into the Digital Kazakhstan program and invited Shanghai-based companies to get involved into the International Technological Park of IT-Startups Astana Hub. He also urged Office of the Shanghai Mayor to step up cooperation in the area of digital technologies with the Astana city administration.

  Xu Kunlin, in turn, noted that Shanghai pays utmost attention to the problems of digitalization in all spheres, including the Internet+ program. He also briefed the Kazakh side on the Big Data Center, which was launched to drive smart Shanghai.

The Kazakh delegation led by Askar Zhumagaliyev paid a one-day visit to Shanghai to attend the Mobile World Congress. On the sidelines of the congress, Kazakhtelecom JSC and Nokia signed a memorandum on pilot launch of 5G in Kazakhstan.