On April 21, 2017 local time, Foreign Minister Wang Yi talked about the four firsts in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" by China and Kazakhstan when jointly meeting the press in Astana with Minister of Foreign Affairs Kairat Abdrakhmanov of Kazakhstan.
Wang Yi pointed out that President Xi Jinping first proposed the grand vision of jointly building a Silk Road Economic Belt in September 2013 during his visit to Kazakhstan. The Silk Road Economic Belt goes from China to the west, where the first stop is Kazakhstan. China carries out cooperation in production capacity with countries along the route while the first target country is Kazakhstan. China promotes synergy of development strategies with countries along the route, while the first country is Kazakhstan. The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has gained a series of early harvests. China and Kazakhstan signed important cooperation documents between the Silk Road Economic Belt construction and the "Bright Road" policy. The two sides have established a normalized cooperation mechanism for cooperation in production capacity, made out 51 key projects with a total value of 27 billion USD. A batch of key projects has yielded positive results. Bilateral cooperation in connectivity showcased various highlights. More than 1200 China-Europe freight trains transit Kazakhstan. Cooperation between China and Kazakhstan will certainly become a model for the joint construction of the "Belt and Road".