Dalian dialogue: Li Qiang and Bektenov cement strategic partnership — from energy to artificial intelligence
Meeting on the sidelines of the Summer Davos, deepening good‑neighbourly ties, energy, transport, digital economy, AI, smart cities and cultural exchanges. Kazakhstan is ready to create a favourable environment for Chinese investment. Both sides aim to strengthen regional stability.
As reported by CCTV+, on Tuesday Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov in Dalian, northeast China, where Li is attending the 17th Annual Meeting of the New Champions. Li stated that under the strategic guidance of their heads of state, China and Kazakhstan are continuously deepening and strengthening their permanent comprehensive strategic partnership, achieving fruitful results. He added that this could be seen as a model of mutual assistance and mutual benefit between neighbouring countries.
China is ready to work with Kazakhstan to deepen good‑neighbourliness and friendship, strengthen political mutual trust, enhance mutually beneficial cooperation and bring more benefits to the peoples of both countries, Li said. He noted that China is ready to cooperate with Kazakhstan to expand and improve bilateral trade, strengthen and deepen cooperation in energy and mineral resources, comprehensively enhance transport connectivity and expand cooperation in promising areas such as artificial intelligence, smart cities, big data and the digital economy, thereby giving new impetus to the modernisation of both countries.
China is also ready to deepen exchanges and cooperation with Kazakhstan in culture, tourism, education, youth policy and other fields, and to strengthen mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples, Li said, adding that both sides should expand cooperation within the framework of China‑Central Asia cooperation and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and jointly promote sustainable regional development.
Bektenov noted that the heads of the two states had provided strategic guidance and given strong impetus to bilateral cooperation. He added that Kazakhstan is ready to work with China to implement the important agreements reached by the heads of the two states, further expand high‑level exchanges and jointly promote the Belt and Road Initiative. He also expressed hope that the two countries would deepen cooperation in trade, investment, transport infrastructure, energy, agriculture, industry and other areas, expand people‑to‑people and cultural exchanges, and achieve more substantial results in the development of their permanent comprehensive strategic partnership. The Kazakh side is ready to create a more favourable environment for Chinese investment in Kazakhstan, expand interaction and cooperation with China on multilateral platforms, and jointly make efforts to maintain peace, stability and development in the region, Bektenov added.
Dalian in northeast China is hosting the 17th Annual Meeting of the New Champions (also known as Summer Davos) — a global forum bringing together business, political and technology leaders. The Li‑Bektenov meeting on the forum's sidelines underscores the importance of China‑Kazakhstan relations. Kazakhstan is a key partner for China in Central Asia and a vital node of the Belt and Road Initiative. Cooperation in AI, big data and smart cities reflects a new stage of partnership beyond traditional resource and transport projects.
When two prime ministers meet in Dalian, behind them is not just protocol but the future of millions of people. Energy, the digital economy, transport corridors — these are not just words, but real projects that connect countries and continents. China and Kazakhstan have long ceased to be just neighbours — they have become strategic partners building a shared future. And when Bektenov speaks of creating a favourable environment for Chinese investment, and Li Qiang speaks of digital technologies and artificial intelligence, it becomes clear: this partnership knows no borders. In a world where old ties are breaking and new ones are only forming, such an alliance becomes an example of how neighbours can not just live side by side but move in the same direction.
