OREANDA-NEWS. September 09, 2009. Kazakh delegation headed by Kazakh Energy Minister Sauat Mynbayev paid a working visit to Beijing, reported the Official website http://en.government.kz

S. Mynbayev met Wang Qishan, Vice Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China and Co-Chairman of the Kazakh-Chinese Committee for Cooperation. In the course of the talks the sides agreed that interaction between Kazakhstan and China had entered the level of strategic partnership and kept on picking up steam. The state visit of the Kazakhstan President to the People's Republic of China had been a milestone in development of bilateral relations and resulted in signing of a package of important bilateral agreements and contracts.
 
Minister Sauat Mynbayev emphasized that the major goal of the Kazakh delegation’s visit to China was to discuss implementation of reached agreements at the highest level.
 
The sides pointed to positive dynamics of cooperation in the O&G sector. In October the second segment of the Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline [namely Kenkiyak-Kumkol] is to be completed which will bring the pipeline’s capacities up from the current 10 million to 20 million tons of oil a year. The sides have been successfully constructing the Kazakh section of the transnational main gas pipe Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China; the first thread is to be placed in operation in November with the second thread being operable starting from July 2010. Kazakhstan and China have been constructing the third Zhanazhol gas processing facility.
 
The sides believe that there are vast opportunities in nuclear industry and alternative energy sources realms. To implement bilateral agreements between respective companies of Kazakhstan and China to start joint uranium-extracting enterprises and expand cooperation in nuclear industry, KazAtomProm National Nuclear Company of Kazakhstan will launch a representation office in Beijing.
 
Minister Sauat Mynbayev also met CNPC Head Jiang Zemin. The sides discussed the current state and prospects of cooperation within the CNPC-AktobeMunaiGaz JV to develop Kenkiyak and Zhanazhol oilfields; they also dwelt on completion of the 2nd segment of the Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline as well as on new bilateral projects.
 
The head of the Kazakh delegation also met with the leadership of the CITIC Group to discuss a wide range of issues of bilateral cooperation in energy and non-energy realms. The sides evaluated as positive the results achieved in a number of major economic projects in Kazakhstan, including the project to construct an asphalt plant in Aktau.