Astana in early winter, the presidential palace is warm and cozy. Just a month ago, 1000 tons of Kazakh wheat passed through Azerbaijan for the first time, crossing the once closed border and successfully arriving in Armenia. This extraordinary journey has now become an important witness to the breakthrough of bilateral relations. On November 21, 2025 local time, Kazakh President Tokayev held talks with visiting Armenian Prime Minister Pashnyan in Astana. Both sides jointly announced the formal elevation of bilateral relations to the level of strategic partners and reached important cooperation consensus in multiple fields such as economy, trade, transportation, and digitization. This meeting not only marks a significant upgrade in the relationship between the two countries, but also opens up new prospects for regional cooperation.

Regional connectivity and pragmatic cooperation

According to the Presidential Office of Kazakhstan, Tokayev pointed out that Armenia is an important partner of Kazakhstan in the South Caucasus region, and the two countries have maintained friendly exchanges for a long time, with continuous deepening of cooperation in various fields. This relationship upgrade has laid a solid foundation for future cooperation. Tokayev emphasized that Kazakhstan supports Armenia's proposed "Peaceful Crossroads" plan and believes that it complements Kazakhstan's advocacy for the construction of the Trans Caspian International Transport Corridor and the "North South" Corridor, which will effectively promote regional cooperation. He also mentioned that Azerbaijan has recently relaxed restrictions on the transportation of goods through its territory to Armenia. This month, the first batch of 1000 tons of Kazakh wheat has successfully arrived in Armenia via this route, which is a milestone. Kazakhstan is willing to continue supplying food and other commodities to Asia, and will focus on resuming direct flights and expanding air cargo transportation as the next steps of cooperation.

Pashnyan stated that Tokayev's official visit to Armenia last year injected new momentum into bilateral cooperation, and multiple signed agreements are being implemented as planned. The Asian side is willing to further deepen cooperation with the Kazakh side on this basis, and believes that changes in the regional situation will bring new opportunities for both sides.

Expand collaboration across multiple fields

During the talks, both sides exchanged in-depth views on cooperation in areas such as trade, investment, transportation, agriculture, digitization, health, and education, and emphasized the importance of maintaining regional peace and stability through dialogue. Kazakhstan clearly supports Armenia and Azerbaijan in promoting the peace process and is willing to continue providing support for this. After the talks, the delegations of both sides signed multiple cooperation documents covering trade and economy, transportation, digitalization, agriculture, education, nuclear energy and other fields, laying out a clear path for future cooperation.

This meeting not only pushed the Kazakhstan Asia relationship to a new strategic height, but also injected strong impetus into the deep cooperation between the two countries in areas such as economy, trade, transportation, and digitization through the signing of multiple practical cooperation documents. At a critical moment of regional situation evolution, both sides emphasize the importance of dialogue and peace, and are committed to jointly promoting stability and prosperity in the South Caucasus region. In the future, with the resumption of direct flights, expansion of cargo transportation, and gradual implementation of various plans, the HaYa strategic partnership is expected to become a new model for regional cooperation. Editor/Xu Shengpeng