In the afternoon of March 27, 2015, Premier Li Keqiang held talks at the Great Hall of the People with Prime Minister Karim Massimov of Kazakhstan who came to China to pay a working visit and attend the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2015.

Li Keqiang welcomed Karim Massimov’s visit to China and expressed that frequent exchanges between Chinese and Kazakh leaders inject strong impetus into the development of bilateral cooperation and bilateral relations. The world economic recovery lacks momentum at present. Therefore, as reliable cooperative partners, China and Kazakhstan should join hands and strive to forge new growth points, so as to translate the high-level political relations between China and Kazakhstan into more tangible fruits of cooperation and thus benefit the two peoples.

Li Keqiang pointed out that China has a surplus of cost-effective production capacity, and its equipment meets the needs of countries that are implementing industrialization. Conducting large-scale cooperation in production capacity between China and Kazakhstan can not only help both countries promote respective economic development and withstand the downward pressure by connecting China’s “Belt and Road” initiative with Kazakhstan’s “Nyrly Zhol” plan, but also set an example for relevant countries in carrying out industrial and production capacity cooperation. During Karim Massimov’s visit, both countries signed a series of important cooperation documents, which marks that the bilateral cooperation has yielded fruitful results in a short time, demonstrating the complementarity between and the huge potential of the two economies.

Li Keqiang stressed that as the China-Kazakhstan production capacity cooperation is an unprecedented innovation, the two sides should not only bear in mind the reality, but also dare to innovate. It is hoped that both sides can be market-oriented, capture interests overlap, prioritize projects and advance the cooperation together in a coordinated manner and at the same time, both sides should step up policy synergy to come up with effective supporting measures in such aspects as taxation, standards, labor service, visa, and guarantee of rights and interests of investors, all with a view to jointly accomplishing a meticulous and substantial result in all fields and realizing mutual benefits and win-win results. The Chinese side also stands ready to deepen cooperation with the Kazakh side in a wide range of areas including railways, nuclear energy, energy and agriculture, and to expand people-to-people and cultural exchanges so as to further cement the non-governmental foundation for the bilateral friendship.

Karim Massimov expressed that Kazakhstan and China enjoy profound friendship. The Kazakh side is grateful to the Chinese side for taking Kazakhstan as China’s major partner of its “Belt and Road” initiative and international cooperation in production capacity. The bilateral cooperation in production capacity has a sound start, which signifies that this brand-new mode of bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation enjoys a broad prospect and this mode can serve as a model for regional industrial and production capacity cooperation. The Kazakh side is willing to further deepen the Kazakhstan-China comprehensive strategic partnership and to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in various areas, pushing for a new breakthrough in the bilateral economic cooperation.

After the talks, Li Keqiang and Karim Massimov jointly witnessed the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on strengthening bilateral production capacity and investment cooperation as well as 33 documents on conducting production capacity cooperation in a wide range of areas such as steel, nonferrous metals, plate glass, oil refining, hydroelectricity and automobiles, with the total amount reaching 23.6 billion USD.