Kazakhstan light rail loan agreement sealed

Xi tells visiting president 2 countries should also look to AIIB

The State-owned China Development Bank has agreed to provide a loan to a light rail transportation company in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, according to a deal signed on Monday.

The agreement, whose signing was witnessed by President Xi Jinping and visiting Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev, is among a number of deals that are aimed at enhancing cooperation in such areas as investment, energy, trade, infrastructure and high technology.

Nazarbayev is among the 30 foreign leaders visiting China to attend the military parade on Thursday marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45). China is the first country visited by Nazarbayev after he was re-elected president on April 26.

Further details about the agreement were unclear. In May, China Railway Group Ltd signed a framework agreement with Astana LRT Talgat Ardan to help build a new light rail system with a length of 22.4 kilometers. The new line is scheduled for completion before the Astana Expo 2017, which will run from June 10 to Sept 10, 2017.

During the ceremony on Monday, Astana LRT Talgat Ardan also signed a contract with Beijing State-Owned Assets Management Co, which will be in charge of construction of the light rail project.

Kazakhstan is promoting its "Nurly Zhol", or "path to the future" policies, to link with China's Belt and Road Initiative, Nazarbayev said. He put forward the new policy, which counts on infrastructure construction to reignite Kazakhstan's slowing economy, in his state-of-the-nation speech in November.

Xi told his counterpart that China and Kazakhstan should make full use of the finance mechanisms, including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund, to promote development.

During the meeting, China's CITIC Group signed an agreement with a Kazakhstani company to provide financial support for infrastructure construction in the Central Asian country.

Su Zhuangzhi, a leading researcher on Kazakhstan studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told China Daily that there are geopolitical advantages for China and Kazakhstan to carry out bilateral economic cooperation.

China shares a long border with Kazakhstan, and the countries' economies are highly complementary, Sun said, adding that infrastructure cooperation between the two nations is a first step in economic cooperation.

During Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Masimov's visit to China in March, the two countries signed 33 cooperation deals worth $23.6 billion.

China is Kazakhstan's biggest trading partner, and both countries have vowed to promote bilateral trade, aiming for a record high of $40 billion by the end of the year.

On Monday, Xi also met with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Laotian President Choummaly Sayasone, all of whom will attend the military parade on Thursday.

Contact the writers through anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn