Access to reliable data gives businesses a competitive advantage when they develop AI tools, build digital services or enter new markets. Kazakhstan and China are working to make that resource easier to use securely across borders. China and Kazakhstan deepened their cooperation in the data economy at the Global Data Ecosystem Conference 2026 (GDEC 2026) in Shanghai on Oct.
30–31. Kazakhstan participated as the Special Invited International Partner, a sign of the growing importance of data cooperation in relations between the two countries. At the opening session, Kazakhstan’s Bureau of National Statistics outlined the country’s approach to building a data market.
The Bureau is part of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms, which oversees the development of the data economy. Representatives from Kazakhstan and China take part in the launch of a joint digital economy initiative at the Global Data Ecosystem Conference in Shanghai on Oct.
30, 2026. Photo credit: Courtesy of the Global Data Ecosystem Conference Organizing Committee. On Oct. 31, Astana Data Exchange (ADX) and Shanghai Data Exchange (SDE) began to work on their first joint listing of data products so that data providers could offer them on both platforms.
Industry associations, state-owned enterprises and private firms in finance and IT also joined a broader initiative on data markets, research on the digital economy and smart city projects. The cooperation fits a broader agenda discussed by Presidents Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Xi Jinping in Shanghai in July, when digital technologies and AI were identified as areas for closer ties.
At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, Tokayev proposed the Kazakhstan–China Digital Bridge Initiative to expand digital trade and connect the two countries’ digital economies. For Kazakhstan, the proposal builds on its record as a digital state. The country is now turning to the economic use of the data its industries and public institutions generate.
If Kazakhstan and China connect their national data exchanges under rules both sides trust, other countries could use the same approach to share data securely and transparently. From digital government to a data economy This cooperation follows years of digitization in Kazakhstan, particularly in public services and banking.
More than 90% of public services are available online, and the country ranked 24th among 193 countries in the 2024 UN E-Government Development Index. In 2025, 98.3% of personal payments and transfers were cashless. The Digital Qazaqstan strategy builds on that experience and sets out how the country plans to develop its data economy through 2029.
It calls for wider use of AI across industries and for government agencies to use data when making decisions. The Law on Artificial Intelligence establishes rules for developing and using AI systems. Under Kazakhstan’s Digital Code, in force since July 2026, organizations can exchange data products through registered platforms.
Providers set the terms of use, and the products must exclude personal data that could identify individuals. As part of a broader effort to treat data as an economic asset, Kazakhstan has adopted a method for valuing data products held by public agencies and state-owned enterprises.