China and Kazakhstan: Belt and Road Cooperation

Abstract

Throughout its fairly short history, the Belt and Road initiative has demonstrated its good prospects, which explains why the government of Kazakhstan heeds a lot of attention to economic cooperation with China within this project. It has the greatest stake in the initiatives related to further development of cargo traffic routes and pipelines in different directions (primarily, Africa, the Middle East and Europe) and their potential impact on Kazakhstan’s economic health. Comprehensive studies are especially necessary in the current time of crisis, when the active realization of the Chinese initiative has run into certain problems. The authors examine the key ideas of the Chinese initiative to reveal the basic conceptual provisions and trends and analyze the problems and prospects of its realization. It is even more important to consider the ways to coordinate it with the projects of the Eurasian Economic Union and Kazakhstan’s Nurly Zhol (Bright Path) program. The possible threats and challenges that the Chinese initiative may create for Kazakhstan, or the positive effects that will help Kazakhstan realize its national interests should not be overlooked, either. The various processes related to the initiative and its numerous trends should be carefully studied against the background of the current dynamic changes in world politics.