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Mia Nurmamat

When I began planning a work trip to Astana this month, the first challenge was simply finding a flight.
With no direct service from Hong Kong to the Kazakh capital, I could transfer in Guangzhou, Beijing, Urumqi or Seoul. I chose Guangzhou, which offered a direct flight lasting about seven and a half hours, but the limited schedule meant there was no flight on Saturday, forcing me to leave earlier than planned and spend five days in Astana.
The journey offered an early glimpse of both the promise and the limitations facing Hong Kong’s expanding relationship with Central Asia. Commercial interest is growing, but travel remains surprisingly complicated.
However, Astana appeared poised for a more connected future. Around the Hilton, where I stayed to cover the South China Morning Post’s China Conference: Central Asia – a gathering of government and business leaders to discuss closer ties – cranes towered over construction sites and new commercial districts were taking shape.
As my guide drove me through the capital, he pointed out buildings developed by Chinese companies, Middle Eastern investors and, in earlier years, Russian firms.
The mix of futuristic towers, monumental government buildings and older Soviet influences was a reflection of Kazakhstan’s “multi-vector” foreign policy: maintaining close ties with Russia while attracting investment from China, the Middle East, Europe and the US`.
Like me, my guide came from the Ili region of western China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, although he was an ethnic Kazakh who had moved to Kazakhstan about a decade ago.
After gaining independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan – whose population now stands at 20.6 million – has encouraged ethnic Kazakhs from China, Mongolia and Uzbekistan to settle in their ancestral homeland, helping to expand both its population and the share of its titular ethnic group.
In our way of thinking, population is everything
Kazakh guide, Astana
Fluent in both languages and familiar with both business cultures, Chinese-born Kazakhs often work as assistants or intermediaries – serving as human bridges in a commercial relationship growing faster than the transport links between the two countries.
As we drove through Astana, my guide spoke proudly about the city’s development. But when we passed a restaurant occupying a former McDonald’s site, he recalled how the American chain left Kazakhstan in 2023 – its local franchisee stopped sourcing supplies from Russia following the Ukraine war and struggled to find suitable alternatives.
“The experience also made local people understand the importance of learning other languages and engaging with people beyond Russia, such as the Chinese,” he said.
Astana’s young population was another noticeable feature – couples and new families seemed to be everywhere.
“We have always been encouraged to increase the Kazakh population, and the government provides families with a lot of support,” my guide said. “In our way of thinking, population is everything.”
Many of the young Kazakhs I met were also multilingual. Some spoke Kazakh, Russian and English, while others were learning Mandarin as Chinese investment creates new employment and business opportunities.
I was also surprised by how widely Kazakh was spoken. I had expected Russian to dominate because of the country’s history as a Soviet republic, but many drivers, restaurant workers and young residents were eager to speak Kazakh.
My guide said Astana had attracted residents from predominantly Kazakh-speaking regions when the country moved its capital to the north, helping make it an important centre for the language’s revival.


For Hong Kong businesses looking towards Central Asia, that linguistic and cultural flexibility may be one of Kazakhstan’s greatest assets.
The Russian language ties it to the post-Soviet economy, while its border with China and growing Chinese investment link it to East Asia. Its English-speaking young people look increasingly towards the West, while its predominantly Muslim population provides cultural ties to the Middle East.
Few countries share that combination of geography, languages and cultural links.
Yet Kazakhstan’s ambitions are constrained by some familiar pressures for developing economies.
Astana did not feel cheap. My guide said many residents earned the equivalent of about 4,500 yuan to 5,000 yuan (US$630 to US$700) a month, while some restaurant, grocery and consumer prices appeared comparable with those in Shenzhen or Shanghai.
He said high prices were a common complaint, one that was fuelling Kazakhstan’s push to develop food processing, packaging and light manufacturing instead of having to rely on imports.
Energy was an exception. A litre of 92-octane petrol cost 247 tenge – about HK$4.30 (54 US cents) – in the middle of this month compared with HK$34.62 for standard unleaded petrol in Hong Kong, although the two markets sell different fuel grades. Almost every petrol station I noticed belonged to Qazaq Oil, Kazakhstan’s largest fuel-retailing chain.
Cheap fuel and Astana’s severe winters – which can reduce battery performance – may help explain why conventional cars and hybrids remain more common than electric vehicles.
Direct flights from Hong Kong to Almaty – Kazakhstan’s largest city – are due to begin in January, cutting the journey to about seven hours. The new route alone will not create a commercial corridor, but it could remove one of the most visible barriers between the two regions.
Additional reporting by Ralph Jennings


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It will soon be possible to fly direct from Hong Kong to Almaty, but in the meantime a little flexibility is required


It will soon be possible to fly direct from Hong Kong to Almaty, but in the meantime a little flexibility is required.


Reporter’s notebook: Kazakhstan trip highlights promise and limits of Central Asia ties

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}It will soon be possible to fly direct from Hong Kong to Almaty, but in the meantime a little flexibility is required

It will soon be possible to fly direct from Hong Kong to Almaty, but in the meantime a little flexibility is required