ASTANA – Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the Kazakh-Turkish business forum on May 14, where they emphasized expanding bilateral cooperation in industry, transport, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and digital technologies, while setting a goal to increase trade turnover to $15 billion.
From L to R: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev addressed the Kazakh-Turkish business forum on May 14. Photo credit: Akorda.
Opening the forum, Tokayev said Kazakhstan continues to provide comprehensive support for Turkish businesses and described Türkiye as one of the country’s key strategic and investment partners.
“Today, around 3,800 enterprises with Turkish capital successfully operate in Kazakhstan. Thanks to our joint efforts, thousands of jobs have been created,” Tokayev said.
Kazakhstan promotes investment and industrial cooperation
Tokayev highlighted Kazakhstan’s economic performance, noting that the country’s gross domestic product grew by 6.5% last year and exceeded $300 billion.
“Kazakhstan is the largest economy in Central Asia. This demonstrates the stability and enormous potential of our domestic market,” he said.
Opening the forum, Tokayev described Türkiye as one of the country’s key strategic and investment partners. Photo credit: Akorda.
Tokayev also invited Turkish investors to use Kazakhstan’s Altyn Visa program, which offers tax and migration preferences for foreign investors. He highlighted the growing role of the Astana International Financial Centre, which now hosts more than 5,600 companies from nearly 90 countries, including 73 Turkish firms.
Particular attention was paid to industrial cooperation. According to Tokayev, Kazakh and Turkish businesses have already implemented 142 joint projects worth $7.6 billion.
Among the major projects mentioned were investments by YDA Holding in manufacturing and medical production, construction and chemical projects by Panelsan and Betek Boya, as well as a power plant launched by Aksa Energy in the Kyzylorda Region.
Turkish companies are also expanding their role in Kazakhstan’s aviation infrastructure.
“TAV Holding is conducting the reconstruction of the international terminal at Almaty Airport. S Sistem Lojistik has expressed interest in building a logistics center at Aktobe Airport. These initiatives will contribute to strengthening the domestic aviation industry’s potential,” Tokayev said.
Agriculture and pharmaceuticals among key priorities
Tokayev said Kazakhstan sees significant opportunities for cooperation in agriculture and food processing. He noted that Kazakhstan ranks sixth globally in arable land area and remains among the world’s top grain exporters, harvesting 27 million tons of grain last year.
According to him, several Turkish companies are planning agricultural and food-processing projects in Kazakhstan, including Tiryaki Holding, which plans to build a grain and legumes processing plant in Astana, and İskefe, which intends to launch a gelatin production facility. Alarko Holding is also planning to build a greenhouse complex in Shymkent..
Turkish pharmaceutical companies Abdi İbrahim and Nobel have opened their first foreign production facilities in Kazakhstan, while YDA Group is building multi-profile hospitals in Turkistan and Petropavlovsk.
“We fully support all these initiatives. I am confident that these initiatives will be a powerful incentive for Kazakhstan to become a leading pharmaceutical and export hub in the region,” Tokatev said.
AI, digitalization and Alatau development
He said Kazakhstan recently established a ministry focused on artificial intelligence and digital development, launched two supercomputers and opened the Alem.ai International AI Center in Astana.
“We are ready to jointly implement projects with Turkish companies in artificial intelligence, fintech, cybersecurity and online services,” he said.
Tokayev noted that business cooperation between Turkish and Kazakh digital companies is expanding. Kazakhstan’s Kaspi.kz acquired a controlling stake in Turkish e-commerce platform Hepsiburada, while Freedom Holding Corp. has begun expanding its digital ecosystem and brokerage operations in Türkiye.
Erdoğan calls Kazakhstan Türkiye’s largest economic partner in Turkic world
For his part, Erdoğan praised Kazakhstan’s economic achievements and described the country as Türkiye’s largest trade and economic partner in the Turkic world.
“In 2025, Kazakhstan became our largest trade and economic partner in the Turkic world,” Erdoğan said.
He noted that Kazakhstan’s economy grew by 6.5% in 2025, with GDP per capita approaching $15,000 and total foreign trade turnover reaching $145 billion.
“Of course, we do not intend to stop at the current indicators. Our goal is to increase bilateral trade turnover to $15 billion,” Erdoğan said.
