China important player in global investment: Kazakh minister

DAVOS, Switzerland - Backed by a strong and stable Chinese economy, Chinese investors are playing an active and important role at global level, Kazakh Investments and Development Minister Asset Issekeshev told Xinhua in a interview.

The role of Chinese banks is essential for enhancing cooperation between China and Kazakhstan, Issekeshev said Friday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

"We see the positive trends of the Chinese banks, which are in good financial shape in the long term. That will bring great investment opportunities for us," he said.

China's strength in construction, metallurgy, agriculture and other sectors are important for Kazakhstan, Eurasia and the world, said the minister.

"With China we have a lot of joint projects in the sectors like oil, energy and infrastructure. Now we started to cooperate in the industrial innovation sector, since now China has advanced technology," he said.

"We are very interested to develop new innovative sectors like IT and we have several projects with Chinese companies, for example, in telecommunications."

"During Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Kazakhstan last December, we started to develop a program of industrial investment cooperation where we defined projects in which the excellent Chinese technology can be a central element," said the minister.

He also reaffirmed Kazakhstan's support for China's Silk Road Economic Belt initiative.

"Our top priorities are transport and logistics because we are located between big markets like China, the Middle East, Europe and Russia. We have very good logistic infrastructure and we are still developing them. For these reasons the initiative is a very important project for us."

The Kazakh official noted that the number of containers between China and Europe has increased five-fold and that relevant infrastructure projects have started.

Bilateral meetings between China and Kazakhstan are very intense, he said.

"I go to China every month. We will receive a Chinese delegation soon and in February we will travel again to China. Besides, we have a lot of business negotiations between companies."