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Kazakhstan Plans To Merge Its ’Bright Road’ Initiative with China’s Silk Road Economic Belt
28 March 2015
EIRNS—During his meeting with the visiting Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Masimov in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the two countries to strengthen cooperation on key projects, the transfer of manufacturing capacity, finance, the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative, and Kazakhstan’s "Bright Road" initiative, Xinhua reported today. Kazakhstan’s "Bright Road" initiative is aimed at revitalizing the country’s economy while jointly promoting infrastructure construction cooperation, such as developing steel works, power plants, and building railroads. Kazakhstan Prime Minister is in China to attend the four-day annual Boao Forum for Asia conference which began yesterday in southern China’s Hainan island province. Masimov told Xi that Kazakhstan will provide new opportunities for bilateral cooperation. Kazakhstan hopes to beef up cooperation with China through the platform of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund, he said. He also suggested the establishment of Chinese cultural institutions in order to strengthen exchanges with China. China and Kazakhstan are both founding members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA). In addition, Kazakhstan has proposed serving as a transit country for Russian gas going to China, Tengrinews reported today, citing the daily Kommersant. KazMunaiGas President Sauat Mynbayev has commented that the two nations could use the existing route that goes from Russia to southern Kazakhstan via the Bukhara-Ural and Bozoi-Shymkent pipelines. These lines are in turn connected to the Central Asia-China gas pipeline main. Currently, Beijing is receiving gas from Turkmenistan via this trunk pipeline. Ramtanu Maitra |
