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Australia-Kazakhstan relations

Australia	Kazakhstan

Australia-Kazakhstan relations refer to the bilateral relations between the Commonwealth of Australia and the Republic of Kazakhstan.

History

Australia and Kazakhstan established diplomatic relations shortly after the dissolution of the USSR, and now maintain good relations.

Bilateral Relations

Australia opened an embassy in Almaty in 1995, but it closed in 1999 due to resource constraints. Kazakhstan opened a Consulate-General in Sydney in 2015, and also has honorary consulates in Melbourne and Perth.

Australia's Ambassador to Kazakhstan is resident in Moscow, and makes regular visits to Kazakhstan. In January 2005, Australia established an Honorary Consulate in Almaty (the position is currently vacant). Kazakhstan's Ambassador to Australia, is resident in Singapore. Kazakhstan has a Consulate-General in Sydney and has Honorary Consuls in Perth and Melbourne.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, as of 2019, 2,310 Australian residents declared they were born in Kazakhstan.

A number of high-level visits have taken place between Australia and Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan's then Prime Minister, Sergey Tereshchenko, visited Australia in 1993; then Governor General of Australia, Bill Hayden, visited Kazakhstan in 1994; President Nazarbayev visited Australia in 1996. Zhanar Aitzhanova, then Vice-Minister of Industry and Trade, led a trade and agriculture delegation to Australia in 2008.

Former Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, visited Astana in December 2010 to attend the OSCE Summit held whilst Kazakhstan was Chair of the organisation. He returned in June 2011 for the OIC Foreign Minister's meeting in Astana. Australia sent a parliamentary delegation, led by then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Peter Slipper, to Kazakhstan in April 2012. Senior Officials Talks were also held in Canberra in 2015. Then Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, the Hon Steven Ciobo MP, visited Nur-Sultan to attend the 47th Asian Development Bank Annual meeting in May 2014.

The two Governments signed an Agreement on Economic and Commercial Cooperation, which came into force on 2 June 2004. The agreement aims to facilitate trade, investment and economic cooperation between the two countries. As part of Kazakhstan's WTO accession process, Australia concluded a bilateral market access agreement on goods and services with Kazakhstan in 2008.

Economic relationship

Kazakhstan is Australia's leading trading partner in Central Asia, however, the level of trade between Australia and Kazakhstan remains modest. Two-way merchandise trade with Kazakhstan in 2018-19 was worth A$28.5 million. Australia's exports to Kazakhstan, worth A$21 million, consisted principally of manufactured goods. Imports from Kazakhstan, worth A$7.5 million, consisted mostly of Copper and Pig-iron. Some trade is handled through intermediate markets such as Russia, China and the Netherlands.

Australian investment in Kazakhstan totalled A$81 million in 2018. Several Australian companies are active in Kazakhstan, including Worley Parsons, Iluka Resources, Orica, Ausenco, Jupiter Energy, Gloria Jean's Coffees, Rio Tinto and the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC). In addition Macquarie Group has an interest in Kazakhstan through its $630 million Macquarie Russia & CIS Infrastructure Fund (MRIF).

In October 2015 Austmine (the peak industry body in Australia for the mining equipment, technology and services sector) and Kazakhstan's Association of Mining and Metallurgical Enterprises (AAME), signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will provide a framework for industry to industry collaboration in future.

Agriculture is an area of considerable potential for cooperation. The Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics in Adelaide have signed a memorandum of understanding, which has witnessed greater collaboration between Australian and Kazakh scientists working on drought, salinity and nutrient deficiencies and toxicity affecting cereal crops in both countries.

Opportunities exist for Australia to increase its share of the education market in Kazakhstan. The Kazakh Government's 'Bolashak' International Scholarship Program has seen approximately 75 scholarship recipients study in Australia each year since 2007. In 2015 there were 108 Kazakh nationals enrolled to study in Australia. In Kazakhstan, the Melbourne School of Engineering (University of Melbourne) has been involved in course development at Nazarbayev University in Nur-Sultan, and academics from other Australian universities have undertaken short-term teaching placements. Kazakhstan hosted Expo 2017 in Astana, with the theme of "Future Energy". The event focused on innovative ways to assist the growth of green energy and green economy industries.