Kazakhstan is the largest country in Central Asia in terms of territory and tenth in the world, with a low population density of about 6.64 people per square kilometer, which is the 184th indicator among 237 countries of the world. Most of Kazakhstan is located in Asia and only a small part of the territory in Europe. Although Kazakhstan is washed by two seas, the Caspian and the Aral, which are actually rather large lakes, it is believed that the country has no access to the sea.
A little bit about the country
18.5 million people live in Kazakhstan, of which Kazakhs - 64 percent and Russians - 24, almost the entire population, 94.4 percent, speaks fluent Russian. The country's economic situation is much better than that of the Central Asian republics, mainly due to the presence of huge mineral reserves and developed production of grain crops. The country has the largest hydrocarbon reserves (the twelfth largest in the world), the production of which is carried out by almost all global American and European oil producing companies and companies of the countries with which Kazakhstan borders - Russian and Chinese.
Close and good neighbor of Russia
Kazakhstan has the longest border with Russia - 7 644 kilometers, passing through 8 Russian regions and one national republic, the border is very conditional, the regime of which has further softened after the country joined the Eurasian Economic Union.
Regions bordering Kazakhstan: Astrakhan, Volgograd, Saratov, Samara, Orenburg, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Tyumen, Omsk and Novosibirsk regions, Altai Territory and the Republic of Altai.
The Altai Republic and all Russian regions bordering Kazakhstan have close economic ties with their neighbors, which are estimated at an average of 25-30 percent of the foreign trade of these regions. For Kazakhstan's border regions, the share of foreign trade with Russia is estimated at 50-60%.
Kazakhstan purchases more than a third of goods from Russia, machinery and equipment, metal products and food are the main import items. Like most countries, Kazakhstan neighbors with whom it trades more and more, the only exception being Italy, Russia only third in the list of importers of Kazakhstani products. And, of course, the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which Russia, together with the city of the same name, leases from Kazakhstan, is a symbol of cooperation, they cost the Russian budget about 10.6 billion rubles a year.
Central Asian
Uzbekistan (border length 2,330 kilometers), Kyrgyzstan (1,212 kilometers) and Turkmenistan (413 kilometers) are the Central Asian countries with which Kazakhstan borders in the south. Relations between countries are quite complex, the borders between them were set in many ways arbitrarily, but all issues on the territory were settled by the parties. Economic relations are extremely weak, because Uzbekistan and especially Turkmenistan are very closed countries, and Kyrgyzstan does not have much to offer.
For example, Germany (a share of 5.7 percent) and the United States (a share of 5.1 percent) have a larger share in foreign trade than the above countries with which Kazakhstan borders. Turkmenistan has a share of 0.5 percent, Kyrgyzstan - 0.9 percent, Uzbekistan - 2.4 percent.
Chinese partner
In the south-east of the country runs the Kazakh-Chinese border with a length of 1765 kilometers. Kazakhstan is trying to maintain cautious friendly relations with China. Chinese oil companies were among the last to gain access to Kazakhstan’s hydrocarbon deposits, and an attempt to lease 1 million hectares of land to a Chinese company fell through due to strong public outrage. Kazakhstan is participating in a global project initiated by China, the New Silk Road, which will create a transport corridor from East Asia to Europe. The country has traditional close ties with the Chinese Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (with whom it trades the most and with whom it borders). Kazakhstan, together with China, built a duty-free zone at the Khorgos border crossing , which in 2016 was visited by more than 2.5 million Chinese. China has a share of 14.5 percent in Kazakhstan’s foreign trade and 11.5 percent in exports. Of course, the influence of China, which is becoming the largest economy in the world, is growing rapidly in the region.