Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev begins an official visit to the Federal Republic of Germany today. Talks are expected to focus on strengthening the strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and Germany, expanding investment and technological cooperation, developing transport and logistics routes, and working together on energy security.
How relations between the two countries are developing, and which areas of cooperation may gain new momentum during the visit to Berlin and Munich, is explored in this article by Qazinform News Agency correspondent. New momentum in Kazakhstan-Germany relations Relations between Kazakhstan and Germany now span more than 30 years.
Yerbulat Seilekhanov, chief research fellow at the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Kazakhstan, said Germany holds a special place among Kazakhstan’s European partners. “Germany is Kazakhstan’s key strategic partner in Europe. Relations between our two countries have developed steadily.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev visited Germany in 2019, 2020 and 2023. The current visit will be his fourth,” the expert said. According to him, exchanges of delegations have increased noticeably in recent years. He cited German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s visit to Kazakhstan in 2023 and Bundesrat President Anke Rehlinger’s visit to Astana in 2025.
“What I consider particularly important and noticeable is that our relations have become institutionalized in recent years. These include the Central Asia-Germany and European Union-Central Asia formats. The first European Union-Central Asia summit took place in November last year.
I believe this institutionalization shows that relations between Kazakhstan, Germany and Central Asia are reaching a new level,” Seilekhanov said. Economic ties remain one of the foundations of bilateral cooperation. Since 2005, German direct investment in Kazakhstan has exceeded $8 billion, with a substantial share directed toward the non-resource sector.
More than 1,000 companies with German capital operate in the country, including CLAAS and Horsch in agricultural machinery, Siemens and Siemens Energy in technology and energy, BASF and Linde in chemicals and gases, and Knauf and Heidelberg Materials in building materials.
The presence of major German companies in Kazakhstan creates opportunities for technology transfer, highly skilled jobs and the introduction of modern management standards. Kazakhstan seeks not only to increase trade volumes but also to change the structure of trade.
This means moving beyond straightforward trade toward deeper industrial cooperation through local production, technology transfer and the training of skilled workers. This form of cooperation also appeals to German businesses because it combines access to Kazakhstan’s raw materials with the opportunity to establish parts of their production and technology chains in the country.
Against this backdrop, new markets, sources of raw materials and transport routes are becoming increasingly important to German businesses. Kazakhstan may be of interest to Germany in several areas, from supplies of energy and critical raw materials to industrial cooperation, investment, logistics and technology projects.