BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 16. President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping have held bilateral talks in Shanghai to discuss the deepening of the permanent comprehensive strategic partnership between the two nations.
This was announced in a statement published by the press service of the Kazakh president.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) and the High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance.
During the talks, President Tokayev expressed his gratitude to President Xi Jinping for the invitation to the global summit and congratulated him on the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.
"Kazakhstan is consistently interested in comprehensively strengthening our permanent and strategic partnership with China," Tokayev declared. "In recent years, the political dialogue between our states has significantly intensified."
Highlighting the robust trade and economic ties between the two countries, the Kazakh President emphasized that China remains Kazakhstan's largest trading partner. To date, China has invested over $30 billion in the Kazakh economy, with bilateral trade turnover reaching a record $49 billion last year. Today, more than 8.5 thousand Chinese enterprises successfully operate in Kazakhstan.
The leaders noted that joint large-scale projects continue to advance across key sectors of the economy, including industry, energy, gas chemical production, mechanical engineering, and agriculture. Following the meeting, the two heads of state witnessed the signing of a series of bilateral cooperation agreements aimed at expanding joint initiatives in trade, investment, and technological exchange.
