Shymkent, 22 October. The Baiterek holding and China's Guoyou Materials Group signed a memorandum on building a multipurpose terminal in the first phase of developing the port of Kuryk: the project is valued at $1 billion, and the terminal's capacity in the first phase is 15 million tonnes of cargo a year, the holding said.
The document was signed by Baiterek management board chairman Rustam Karagoishin and Guoyou Materials Group board chairman Yu Boyang at the KGIR-2026 roundtable in Shymkent. The holding says it is considering "comprehensive support" for the project through the instruments of its subsidiaries, without specifying whether this means loans, guarantees or equity. The government included the document in its list of memoranda signed at the roundtable.
The terminal is designed to be expanded after the first phase. In the holding's assessment, developing the port will increase capacity on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route and widen Kazakh exporters' access to foreign markets.
What it means: The Caspian port of Kuryk has a Chinese partner with a project for a 15-million-tonne-a-year terminal, but for now this is a memorandum of cooperation, not an investment decision: the parties have not disclosed financing terms or deadlines.
Who benefits: Exporters and carriers on the Trans-Caspian route, if the terminal is built, and the Chinese partner, which gains access to the Kazakh section of the route. Baiterek is ready to support the project with money from its subsidiaries, which means part of the risk may fall on the state holding.
Background: Kuryk is a port in Mangystau region on the Caspian Sea; the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route from China and Central Asia to Europe, bypassing Russia, crosses the Caspian.
List of sources used: Zakon.kz, Government of Kazakhstan
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
