Kazakhstan International Affairs - The Times Of Central Asia

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Israeli Companies Ready to Invest in Construction of Reservoirs in Kazakhstan

Israeli companies have expressed interest in participating in the construction and reconstruction of reservoirs in Kazakhstan as well as their readiness to provide the country with modern flood forecasting and protection systems. The announcement was made during a meeting on August 8 between Kazakhstan’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Nurzhan Nurzhigitov, and a consortium of leading Israeli companies in the field of water resources management, headed by Managing Partner of Value LBH and Chairman of the Board of the investment company Dan Capital, Shimon Ben-Hamo. Discussions focused on potential cooperation in various areas of the water industry, from the construction and reconstruction of water facilities to joint personnel training, as well as the introduction of water-saving technologies, water purification and reuse, drinking water quality control, and automation of water distribution and metering. Reporting on the meeting, Minister Nurzhigitov commented: "Israeli companies have extensive experience and modern technologies for high-quality water management. Some companies have been successfully operating in Kazakhstan for a long time. We intend to achieve the most efficient water use in all sectors, so we count on mutually beneficial cooperation.” The Kazakh Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation plans to build 20 new reservoirs with a 2.5 billion cubic meters capacity by 2030. Once completed, the project will reduce the country’s dependence on water flowing from upstream Kyrgyzstan and China by 25%, help combat drought in southern Kazakhstan, and reduce the threat of flooding in 70 rural settlements with a total population of nearly 140 thousand people. In addition, irrigation will be provided for a further 250 thousand hectares of farmland. Plans are also in place to reconstruct 15 existing reservoirs with a total capacity of 1.9 billion cubic meters.

Regional Cooperation

Sixth Consultative Meeting of Heads of Central Asian States Takes Place in Astana

On August 9, 2024, Astana will host the Sixth Consultative Meeting of Heads of State of Central Asia, bringing together the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. This event has become an important platform for discussing critical issues of regional cooperation, strengthening economic ties, and addressing everyday challenges. This year’s guests of honor were the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the head of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asian countries, Kakha Imnadze. The main topics of this year's meeting will be economic cooperation, regional security and cooperation, water resources, and energy. Special attention will be paid to water resources management, which is critical to the region's sustainable development. The leaders will also discuss strengthening trade and economic ties, which has become especially important given the growing indicators of mutual trade, which have grown 2.5 times over the past ten years, reaching almost $11 billion. Another important topic will be ensuring regional stability, including fighting terrorism and extremism, and developing joint measures to strengthen border security. The summit is also expected to adopt the "Strategy for the Development of Regional Cooperation in Central Asia-2024", which aims to expand the five-party interaction and strengthen the international role of the region. These consultative meetings of Central Asian leaders, which began in 2018, have become an important tradition and serve as a constructive platform to discuss and address common challenges. The 2024 meeting emphasizes Central Asia's growing importance in the international arena and the readiness of the region's countries to address current challenges and seize opportunities for joint development jointly. On August 9, 2024, a meeting of Central Asian foreign ministers was also held in Astana. Kazakh Foreign Minister, Murat Nurtleu opening the meeting, emphasizing that the event demonstrates the strong commitment of Central Asian countries to strengthening cooperation in all spheres, and that the region's governments have all made significant progress in economic and political interaction in recent years. The total GDP of the Central Asian countries now stands at about $450 billion, and mutual trade has grown by 80% over the past five years, reaching $11 billion. The meeting focused on strengthening regional cooperation in the key areas of energy, transportation, logistics, industry. Kazakhstan proposed developing a long-term comprehensive mechanism of collaboration in the area of water resources and hydropower that would consider the interests of all countries in the region. On the same day, the summit, Central Asia + Japan was to be attended by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida; however, Kishida cancelled his visit to Kazakhstan due to a powerful earthquake which struck off the coast of Japan.

Japanese PM Cancels Attendance at Central Asia + Japan Summit.

A visit to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Mongolia by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida scheduled for August 9-12, has been cancelled. According to the publication Kyodo, the trip was cancelled in response to a warning issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency on the possibility of a strong earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In an apology made at a press conference today, the prime minister who was due to participate in the summit of Japan and the Central Asian countries in Astana, stated, “As the top official in charge of the nation's crisis management, as an extra precaution, I should remain in Japan for at least about a week." Confirming the decision, official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Aibek Smadiyarov announced, "According to the information of the Embassy of Japan, in connection with the earthquake in their country, a decision was made to cancel the visit of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to Kazakhstan." On August 8, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake occurred in Miyazaki prefecture in southwestern Japan and the Japan Meteorological Agency recorded earthquakes at a depth of 30 km. The Japanese government also issued a tsunami warning for Kochi and Miyazaki prefectures. The Times of Central Asia previously reported on the Prime Minister of Japan's intention to announce a package of economic assistance to Central Asia. According to the Japanese government, the initiative which Kishida planned to outline at the summit, will reduce the heavy influence of both Russia and China on the region and afford Central Asia economic independence.

U.S. Company to Support Kazakhstan’s Production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company KazMunayGas (KMG) and the American technology company LanzaJet have signed a memorandum of cooperation for a strategic partnership in the production of environmentally sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in Kazakhstan. While in the United States from August 5-7, KMG Chairman of the Board Askhat Khassenov visited the American company’s laboratory in Chicago and met with LanzaJet CEO Jimmy Samartzis. Khassenov noted that KMG aims to reduce its carbon footprint by 15% by 2031, compared to 2019 levels, and developing the country's biofuels market will support Kazakhstan's goal of carbon neutrality. He then stated that in response to the current rise in the global demand for SAF, his company is considering its production in Kazakhstan. LanzaJet CEO, Jimmy Samartzis, emphasized the importance of Kazakhstan's initial steps towards producing environmentally friendly jet fuel and expressed readiness to provide full technological support. LanzaJet specializes in SAF production technology from ethanol (ethanol-to-jet or alcohol-to-jet) and has long-term off-take agreements with major airlines. In January 2024, the company launched the world's first commercial-scale LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels plant for SAF production from ethanol. KMG earlier said that a preliminary feasibility study for the possible construction of a SAF production facility in Kazakhstan had already been completed by KMG and Air Astana with financial assistance from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel), an alternative to conventional jet fuel, represents a promising tool for decarbonizing the aviation industry. SAF can be derived from bioethanol (ethanol) produced from plants and other renewable sources, and compared to traditional jet fuel, reduces carbon emissions by 80%. In Europe, all jet fuel must contain 2% SAF from 2025 onwards, and the use of eco-friendly jet fuel must rise to 63% by 2050.

Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan Sign $5 Billion in Agreements at Business Forum

On August 7, a joint business forum was held in Astana with more than 300 representatives from business circles of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in attendance. At the forum, joint projects involving automotive engineering, electrical engineering, pharmaceuticals, the chemical and logistics industries were discussed, and a set of agreements with a total value of $5 billion were adopted, according to the Agency for the Development of the Pharmaceutical Network. A memorandum of understanding was signed between Kazakhstan’s JV KAZ AMT and Uzbekistan’s Estess Atraumatic Sterile Surgical Threads LLC, Kazakhstan’s Dolche LLC and Uzbekistan’s Medproject Technology LLC. The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, arrived in Astana on August 7 at the invitation of the President of Kazakhstan. Within the framework of the visit, Mirziyoyev will participate in the consultative meeting of the leaders of the Central Asian countries and the dialogue in the format Central Asia + Japan. President Mirziyoyev signed the decision to establish a free economic zone of the Central Asia International Industrial Cooperation Center on August 6. The zone will be organized in the Syr Darya region. Industrial cooperation will be expanded by involving enterprises in the production process in the center's territory and establishing the production of import-substituting products. Only products manufactured in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are sold in the center's territory under the control of a production certificate. According to the decision, Kazakhstani and foreign citizens can enter the center's territory without a visa through a special checkpoint with an identity document, and stay in the territory for 15 days.

Inland Water Transportation in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan’s inland waterways run to 4,302 km with an infrastructure that includes inland ports in Atyrau and Pavlodar, along with small cargo wharves and docks with access roads and ferry lines. Inland navigation is concentrated in the Ural-Caspian, Ili-Balkhash, and Irtysh river basins, and the Irtysh River is navigated via three locks at Bukhtarma, Ust-Kamenogorsk, and Shulbinsk. As such, Kazakhstan's inland waterways have great potential. Transporting cargo and passengers by ship is cheaper and more environmentally friendly than overland alternatives and has a significant multiplier effect on the development of recreation and tourism in surrounding areas. However, there are a number of challenges to realizing this potential, including the unsatisfactory condition of navigable routes, an insufficient amount and high wear of coastal infrastructure, the state of the inland fleet and waterway locks, and a shortage of specialists. Over time, the Kazakh government's lack of proper attention to developing inland waterways has translated into falling transportation volumes along the country’s main navigable rivers. In turn, the lower handling volumes have led to a dearth of funds to update and repair port facilities, along with a deterioration of coastal infrastructure on navigable waterways, industrial ships, and waterway locks. In the last five years, Kazakhstan’s inland waterway fleet has decreased from 171 to 150 vessels. Meanwhile, 70% of those in operation are past their service life, while the existing coastal infrastructure is unable to process modern types of cargo at the pace required by the market. As reported by Kazakhstan’s statistics agency, in the first half of 2024, 156,300 tons of cargo and 74,200 passengers travelled on inland waterways, down 40.8% and 40.1%, respectively, from the same period last year. A key problem lies in the lack of a comprehensive analysis of the classification and volume of cargo carried through inland waterways. Current developments in shipping are focused around the Irtysh, home to the inland fleet and the main cargo base from which crushed stone is exported to Russia. On the Russian side, plans are in place to further increase shipped imports of both stone and other inert materials, alongside a proposal to import timber to Kazakhstan from Khanty-Mansiysk. The shipment of petroleum products to Chinese refineries from Kazakh and Russian plants is also being explored in tandem with the Chinese side sending back construction materials and consumer goods. At the initial stage, the volume of cargo transportation along the Irtysh is estimated at 350,000-400,000 tons a year, which could be ramped up to 1.5 million tons in the future. Experts note the important role of a strategic task set by the government to develop the transit logistics of integrating inland waterways into the multimodal logistics chain. This is especially relevant amid congestion on Kazakhstan’s railways and roads, the gravitation of export-import cargo to the transport system, and energetic discussions on developing the Russia-Kazakhstan-China transit corridor using the Irtysh. The project entails shipping cargo via the river to Lake Zaysan where reloaded onto trains, it continues its journey through a new Maykapshagay–Jeminay border...