On April 8, 2026, Kazakhstan's Deputy Foreign Minister Alibek Bakaev and Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Assistant Liu Bin held political consultations in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. Both sides have conducted in-depth discussions on core issues such as politics, economy and trade, and multilateral cooperation, reaffirming their commitment to deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership. This consultation covers multiple fields such as politics, trade, economy, culture, and humanitarianism. Both sides reviewed the implementation of the agreement reached by the high-level officials of China and Kazakhstan, affirmed the good trend of comprehensive development of bilateral relations, and laid the foundation for upgrading practical cooperation between China and Kazakhstan.

Constitutional Referendum and Two Sessions Become Key Milestones

Both sides focused on their respective domestic political reform processes during the consultations. The Kazakh side emphasized that the constitutional referendum successfully held in March 2026 was passed with a support rate of 89.15%, while the Chinese side introduced the important achievements of the Chinese Two Sessions. Both sides regard these two political processes as key milestones for the sustained development and modernization of the two countries. By understanding each other's political reform directions, the two countries have further consolidated the foundation of political mutual trust and provided institutional guarantees for the long-term stable development of bilateral relations.

Economic and trade cooperation focuses on the industrial and energy sectors

Both sides have clarified the key directions of economic and trade cooperation, and plan to coordinate and promote cooperation projects in industries, investment, energy, transportation, and other fields. Kazakhstan hopes to expand exports of non resource products to China, especially agricultural products such as wheat and honey, to enter the Chinese market. Both sides also discussed the feasibility of expanding Kazakhstan's exports of resources to Central Africa. In the field of energy, China and Kazakhstan will continue to deepen oil and gas cooperation, while expanding joint development in the field of new energy. In terms of transportation connectivity, both sides will promote the optimization of the route and facilitation of customs clearance for the China Europe freight train passing through Kazakhstan. This consultation also involves the preparation work for this year's high-level visit. Keywords: the Belt and Road News Network, China Kazakhstan Cooperation

Deepen coordination and cooperation under the multilateral framework

Both sides expressed their intention to strengthen coordination and cooperation within multilateral frameworks such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia. Kazakhstan is advancing the modernization of its political system and economic diversification reform, and urgently needs China's technological, financial, and experiential support. China relies on the the Belt and Road Initiative to seek new breakthroughs in energy security and regional cooperation. The complementarity between the two sides is prominent in fields such as energy, transportation, and innovation, and non resource cooperation is becoming a new growth point. This consultation provides clear policy guidance for Chinese and Kazakh enterprises: Chinese enterprises can rely on their advantages in energy and infrastructure technology to deepen cooperation with Kazakhstan in industrial investment and transportation connectivity; Kazakh enterprises can leverage Chinese market channels to expand non resource product exports and promote the transformation of China Kazakhstan economic and trade cooperation from resource driven to diversified collaboration.Editor/Gao Xue