Shanghai, Almaty sign friendship-city cooperation memorandum

Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng led a municipal delegation to Almaty and Astana in Kazakhstan from April 7 to 10, aiming to advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and implement the outcomes of the second China-Central Asia Summit.

During a meeting with Kazakhstan's First Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar, Gong said Shanghai stands ready to expand practical cooperation with Kazakhstan across various fields, contributing to the next "golden 30 years" of China-Kazakhstan ties.

Sklyar expressed Kazakhstan's willingness to create a favorable environment for Chinese enterprises to invest and operate in the country, and welcomed more companies from Shanghai to do business there. He also expressed hope for broader practical cooperation with Shanghai to inject new momentum into bilateral ties.

In a meeting with Almaty Mayor Darkhan Satybaldy, Gong expressed hope that the signing of the first memorandum of understanding on friendship city cooperation between the two cities will help expand practical cooperation into broader areas and deepen it further.

Satybaldy said Almaty looks forward to strengthening exchanges and cooperation with Shanghai in areas such as urban development, transportation, the digital economy, artificial intelligence, and science and education.

In a separate meeting with Astana Mayor Zhenis Kassymbek, Gong called for closer exchanges, mutual learning, and practical cooperation between the two cities in areas including green and low-carbon development, resilience and safety, and smart governance, so as to bring more benefits to the people of both cities.

Kassymbek said Astana is keen to deepen cooperation with Shanghai in urban governance, industry, digitalization, and finance.

During his stay in Almaty, Gong attended the Almaty-Shanghai Business Forum and witnessed the signing of 12 cooperation agreements worth more than $2.7 billion between Shanghai institutions and enterprises and Kazakh counterparts.