Русский
Russia will open a Consulate General will open in Kazakhstan’s Aktau, according to a decree signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and published on the official legal information website on Wednesday (February 11).
Its opening and maintenance costs will be funded “through budget allocations to the Russian Foreign Ministry envisaged in the federal budget for the corresponding financial year and the planned period as the allowance to the foreign office,” the decree said.
Aktau is Kazakhstan’s major Caspian Sea port and a vital part of the Middle Corridor from Russia and Europe to China. It is undergoing significant transformation, focused on increasing container capacity and managing fluctuating, yet strategically vital, oil shipments. Container shipments are projected to grow, with an expected 65,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2025, increasing to 80,000 TEU in 2026. A new container hub is being developed in partnership with China’s Lianyungang Port, designed to boost capacity to 240,000–300,000 TEU annually, with the first phase launched last year.
Russia and Kazakhstan strengthened their economic ties last year by signing a Declaration on the Transition of Interstate Relations to the level of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and Alliance. The trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Russia currently exceeds US$28 billion; the immediate goal is to bring it to US$30 billion. Russia is one of the three largest foreign trade partners of Kazakhstan, with energy resources, agricultural products, machinery, and equipment forming the basis of trade. Both countries are members of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, while Kazakhstan is also a BRICS partner nation.
