When the ancient Silk Road encountered the surging tide of data, a quiet transformation was brewing in the heartland of Eurasia. Under the spotlight of Beijing, Kazakhstan has pushed open a door called the digital future - relying on the platform of the Global Digital Economy Conference, this Central Asian country has systematically demonstrated its ambitious blueprint for digital transformation to the world for the first time.

On July 3, 2026, leveraging the special supporting event platform of the 2026 Global Digital Economy Conference, Kazakhstan hosted the Digital Central Asia International Cooperation Forum in Beijing to publicly announce its digital transformation plans and implementation measures. This forum successfully built a digital cooperation bridge between China, Kazakhstan, and multiple Central Asian countries, focusing on three core directions: technology interoperability, digital infrastructure construction, and cross regional resource coordination, to help deepen and implement digital economic cooperation in the Central Asian region.

Multiple cooperation achievements have been implemented

The theme of this forum is to connect with Central Asia through digital technology and create a smart future. It brings together government officials, industry association representatives, and top industry leaders from multiple countries to participate in and exchange ideas. Gabit Koishibayev, Deputy Secretary General of the Central Asia China Secretariat, stated that unifying regional industry standards and exchanging digital expertise are key cores for deepening cross-border digital cooperation in Central Asia; The multiple consensuses and achievements formed at this forum will further improve the global digital economy governance framework. Relevant persons in charge of the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence of Kazakhstan sorted out and reported the achievements of the country's digital construction on the spot: through the reform of government automation, we continued to break down administrative approval barriers, optimized the process of docking the government with market enterprises, and comprehensively activated the vitality of the local innovation and entrepreneurship market.

The event will focus on promoting the major digital infrastructure project of Ekibastuz Data Center Valley, publicly disclosing relevant special support policies, and releasing opportunities for cross-border investment attraction and international project cooperation. CAREC Research Institute spoke out on site, advocating that China and Kazakhstan work together to lay out green computing hubs, cloud service platforms, and high-performance computing industry projects, and coordinate the promotion of computing resource sharing, infrastructure energy efficiency upgrading, and regional digital sovereignty protection.

Central Asia welcomes new digital opportunities

At present, global industrial technological changes continue to accelerate, and artificial intelligence has become the core driving force for global economic growth. Kazakhstan is closely focusing on the core goal of building a digital power, comprehensively promoting the upgrading of digital services for all and the implementation and production of major digital infrastructure. China firmly ranks among the top tier of the global digital economy and artificial intelligence industry, with mature core technologies, infrastructure construction experience, and full chain industry landing cases. It is the preferred core partner for Central Asian countries to promote digital transformation, and the demand for regional digital Silk Road cooperation continues to rise.

Jointly build a new digital ecosystem in both directions

The concentrated release of digital transformation measures this time is a key strategic layout for Kazakhstan to open up the digital industry's external cooperation track. Kazakhstan will deeply connect with China's mature digital industry chain resources, relying on China's advanced technology, large-scale computing power reserves, and engineering infrastructure advantages to make up for the shortcomings and weaknesses of its high-end digital infrastructure. Keywords: Kazakhstan, China Kazakhstan cooperation, digital transformation

At the same time, the country relies on the platform of this multilateral international forum to open up core high-quality digital projects such as data centers and cloud computing, and to attract international capital and cutting-edge technologies from around the world. This measure can not only promote the quality and efficiency improvement of Kazakhstan's digital industry and leapfrog development, but also open up new cooperation channels for domestic digital enterprises to expand into the Central Asian market and jointly build a regional intelligent industry ecosystem.Editor/Gong Ziwei