Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Japan Yerlan Baudarbek-Kozhatayev met with Yoshinori Kanehana, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Chairman of the Japan Business Association ROTOBO, Qazinform News Agency cites the Kazakh Foreign Ministry's press service.
The parties discussed the agenda for the upcoming 9th joint meeting of the Kazakhstan-Japan Joint Commission of Government and Private Sectors on Economic Cooperation, scheduled to take place in December 2026 in Astana. Around 150 prominent representatives of Japanese big business are expected to participate, representing such key sectors as energy, machinery, transport, logistics, mining, construction, and finance.
The event will focus on strengthening the strategic economic partnership between Japan and Kazakhstan, with particular emphasis on developing artificial intelligence and digital technologies, promoting green transformation, deepening cooperation in the financial sector, and enhancing supply chain resilience.
ROTOBO coordinates the participation of Japanese business representatives in the commission's work, serving as the secretariat for the Japan-Kazakhstan Economic Committee. The upcoming Joint Commission meeting aims to implement the agreements reached during the official visit of President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Japan in December 2025.
During the meeting, Ambassador Baudarbek-Kozhatayev highlighted Kazakhstan's interest in strengthening its long-term technological partnership with Kawasaki Heavy Industries, including joint project execution and the localization of advanced technological solutions.
The Kazakhstan side presented investment proposals for establishing automated warehousing and fulfillment complexes integrated with robotic systems, modern operations management technologies, and smart logistics solutions. In addition, investment projects were presented in hydrogen energy, industrial automation, transport-logistics and urban infrastructure development, including the flagship tech hub project, Alatau City.
For his part, Yoshinori Kanehana, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, confirmed the corporation’s strong interest in implementing projects in Kazakhstan, identifying the petrochemical industry and energy machinery as priority vectors for cooperation.
Furthermore, the head of the Japanese corporation emphasized that amid growing volatility in global markets, the Japanese business community views Kazakhstan as a strategically important and reliable supplier of critical minerals. Kawasaki Heavy Industries is a major Japanese industrial and engineering corporation operating in energy, transport, aerospace, shipbuilding, industrial equipment, robotics, and infrastructure.
As one of the global technological leaders in liquefied hydrogen, Kawasaki Heavy Industries developed and built the world's first liquefied hydrogen carrier (Suiso Frontier) and commissioned the world's first dedicated liquefied hydrogen receiving terminal. Earlier, it was reported that Kazakhstan and the UK discussed parliamentary and bilateral cooperation.