After our stay in Almaty, we board a night train to go, 14 hours later, to Chimkent, which is home to one of the country’s three oil refineries. With its subsoil rich in gas and oil, Kazakhstan attracts the desire of China, which is investing more and more in this sector.
At around 11 p.m., the train begins its slow journey across the steppes of Kazakhstan.
In the train carriages, families, sometimes settling in for a two-day journey, bring out their provisions of mantis, samosas, naan bread and tea, forming a veritable feast with oriental aromas.
And the conversations become lively.
Nesibeli, 65, tells us that the Chinese presence is, in his eyes, too invasive. “It scares me, the interest that the Chinese have in our country. I’m afraid they will come here in droves. »
A few cars away, Yerbol and his wife, Tanar, are traveling with their young children. Their discourse on China is more nuanced.
“Chinese investments can be used to stimulate the economic development of Kazakhstan,” believes the father.
An argument that several experts will repeat to us during our trip: Central Asia needs foreign investors to exploit its large oil and gas deposits.
In the afternoon, we finally reach Chimkent and go to the site of the refinery operated by PetroKazakhstan Oil Products, owned equally by Chinese and Kazakh interests.
Six million tonnes of oil are refined there annually. A quantity that President Tokayev says he wants to double.
He also wants to increase the capacity of the Kazakhstan-China pipeline and the Beineu-Bozoy-Chimkent gas pipeline, both partly owned by Chinese interests and which transport oil and gas particularly to China.
But not all raw materials benefit from the same fast route to the neighboring country.
The company AsiaAgroFood, which produces wheat flour and corn, would also like to increase its exports to China.