Pakistan and Kazakhstan Sign Historic Strategic Partnership Agreement

The Prime Minister of Pakistan, H.E. Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, hosted H.E. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan for a State Visit to Pakistan on February 3-4, 2026, marking the first visit by a Kazakh President in 23 years. The visit culminated in the signing of a Joint Declaration establishing a Strategic Partnership, setting a new milestone in the longstanding friendly relations between the two nations.

Both leaders highlighted the historical, cultural, and religious ties shared by Pakistan and Kazakhstan and reaffirmed their commitment to sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity as the foundation of their partnership. They emphasized the importance of cooperation in political, security, defence, trade, economy, agriculture, transportation, logistics, education, culture, sports, tourism, and climate change, along with enhanced collaboration at regional and international levels.

Key Areas of Cooperation:

• Political Dialogue: Regular high-level visits, biennial strategic dialogues, parliamentary exchanges, and bilateral consultations were agreed upon. Steps will also be taken to facilitate tourism through visa facilitation and e-visa inclusion.
• Security and Defence: The leaders committed to peaceful conflict resolution, strengthened law enforcement cooperation, counterterrorism efforts, and joint military training. Key agreements were signed on extradition, combating crimes, and UN peacekeeping cooperation.
• Trade, Economy, and Investment: Expansion of bilateral trade, investment, and economic cooperation was prioritized across multiple sectors, including agriculture, energy, technology, and manufacturing. A target to raise bilateral trade turnover to USD 1 billion was set, with institutional mechanisms like the Kazakhstan-Pakistan Joint Intergovernmental Commission and Business Council supporting implementation.
• Transport and Logistics: Emphasis was placed on secure, sustainable connectivity via road, rail, air, and maritime corridors, including initiatives such as the Trans-Afghan railway corridor and multimodal transport projects. Plans to re-launch direct flights and enhance port cooperation were also highlighted.
• Education, Science, and IT: Joint working groups in education, IT, and telecommunications were established to promote academic exchanges, student mobility, research collaborations, and joint projects in digital technologies, AI, e-government, and cybersecurity.
• Culture, Media, Sports, and Tourism: Initiatives to deepen people-to-people ties include cultural center inaugurations, media cooperation agreements, sports federation collaborations, and sister city relationships between Lahore-Turkestan and Faisalabad-Shymkent.
• Climate Change and Environment: The two countries agreed to collaborate on environmental sustainability, climate resilience, water security, renewable energy, disaster risk reduction, glacier protection, and other regional climate initiatives.
• Regional and International Cooperation: Pakistan and Kazakhstan pledged to strengthen multilateral cooperation through the UN, OIC, SCO, ECO, and other international organizations. Both countries committed to promoting peace in South Asia, the peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, stability in Afghanistan, interfaith harmony, and combating Islamophobia.

President Tokayev thanked Pakistan for its warm hospitality and invited Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to visit Kazakhstan, which the Prime Minister graciously accepted. The declaration was signed in Islamabad on February 4, 2026, in both Kazakh and English.

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