On Kazakh-Indian relations
Diplomatic relations were established on 22 February 1992.
The Embassy of Kazakhstan in New Delhi was opened in November 1993.
Since May 2021 the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to India is Mr. Nurlan Zhalgasbayev (presented credentials on 7 July 2021).
The Embassy of India in Kazakhstan was opened in October 1993. After the relocation of the Embassy to Astana in November 2007, a consular post operates in Almaty. Since June 2023 Mr. T.V. Nagendra Prasad has been the Ambassador of India to Kazakhstan (presented credentials on 6 October 2023).
Political cooperation
Contacts at the highest level:
1992: official visit of the President of Kazakhstan Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev to India.
1993: official visit of the Prime Minister of India Mr. P. V. Narasimha Rao to Kazakhstan.
1996: official visit of the President of Kazakhstan Mr. Nazarbayev to India.
1996: official visit of the Vice President of of India Mr. Kocheril Raman Narayanan to Kazakhstan.
2002: official visit of the President of Kazakhstan Mr. Nazarbayev to India.
2002: visit of the Prime Minister of India Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Kazakhstan (CICA Summit).
2008: official visit of the Vice President of India Mr. Mohammad Hamid Ansari to Kazakhstan.
2009: state visit of the President of Kazakhstan Mr. Nazarbayev to India.
2011: official visit of the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh to Kazakhstan.
2015: official visit of the Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi to Kazakhstan.
On 27 January 2022, the President of Kazakhstan Mr. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev virtually attended the 1st Central Asia-India Summit.
On 13 January 2023, the President of Kazakhstan Mr. K.Tokayev online participated in the 1st “Voice of Global South” Summit.
On 4 July 2023, the President of Kazakhstan Mr. K.Tokayev took part in the SCO Summit, organized by the Indian side in a videoconference format.
High-level contacts:
August 1999: official visit of the Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Mr. K.Tokayev to India.
May 2010: visit of the Minister of External Affairs of India Mr. S.M.Krishna to Kazakhstan.
March 2013: official visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Mr. E.Idrissov to India.
April 2013: visit of the Minister of External Affairs of India Mr. Salman Khurshid to Kazakhstan.
August 2018: visit of the Minister of External Affairs of India Ms. Sushma Swaraj to Kazakhstan.
Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Mr. Mukhtar Tleuberdi held meetings with his Indian counterpart Mr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in September 2019 in New York, in September 2020 in Moscow, in March 2021 in Dushanbe and in July 2021 in Tashkent,.
November 2019: visit of the Minister of State for External Affairs and Education of India Mr. Vellamvelly Muralidharan to Kazakhstan.
October 2021: visit of the Minister of External Affairs of India Mr. S.Jaishankar to Kazakhstan.
December 2021: visit of Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Mr. M.Tleuberdi to New Delhi.
June and October 2022: visits of the Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture Ms. Meenakashi Lekhi to Kazakhstan.
May 2023: visit of the Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Mr. Murat Nurtleu to India.
On 17 November 2023 the Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Mr. M.Nurtleu attended the 2nd “Voice of Global South” Summit (virtually).
The 5th meeting of the India-Kazakhstan Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism was held in Astana on April 8, 2024.
Inter-parliamentary cooperation
On 10-11 May 2013, a group of Kazakh deputies, headed by Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs, Defense and Security of the Mazhilis (lower chamber) of the Parliament of Kazakhstan Mr. Maulen Ashimbayev, visited India.
On 23-24 September 2019, Deputy Chairman of the Upper House of the Parliament of the India (Rajya Sabha) Mr. Harivansh Narayan Singh took part in the IV Meeting of Speakers of the Parliaments of the Eurasian countries in Nur Sultan.
Inter-ministerial cooperation
8 rounds of inter-ministerial consultations (Foreign office consultations) were held at the level of deputy ministers, the last of which was held on 13 February 2023 in New Delhi.
On 5-6 November 2009 Astana hosted the 1st round of Kazakh-Indian consultations on consular issues.
Trade and economic cooperation
The trade turnover between Kazakhstan and India by the end of 2023 amounted to 1,029.9 billion US dollars, which is 58% lower than the figures for 2022. At the same time, Kazakhstan's exports amounted to 449.2 million US dollars (-58%), while imports from India reached 580.7 million US dollars (+3.2%).
The decrease in mutual trade indicators is primarily due to a decrease in exports of Kazakh crude oil to India.
Exports from Kazakhstan: crude oil (with a share of 65.7%), hydrogen, inert gases and other non-metals (14%), asbestos (5.5%), hard coal (3.3%), etc.
Imports to Kazakhstan: telephones (9.8%), medicines packaged for retail sale (31.5%), tea (4.3%), equipment for sorting and grinding soil (5.9%) etc.
14 meetings of the Kazakh-Indian Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) were held (14th meeting of the IGC on 3 June 2022 in New Delhi). Ministry of Trade and Integration is responsible for IGC from the Kazakh part, and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is responsible for the Indian part.
There are 7 Kazakh-Indian Joint Working Groups: on Trade and Economic cooperation, on Information technology, on Military and Military-Technical cooperation, on the development of the Textile industry, etc.
Military-technical cooperation
On 3-4 October 2018, during the visit of the Minister of Defence of India Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman to Kazakhstan, a solemn ceremony of the joint deployment of the peacekeeping contingent as part of UNIFIL was held (on 14 November 2023 the 10th rotation of the Kazakh contingent consisting of 6 people took place).
On 30 October – 11 November 2023 the parties held the 7th joint Kazakh-Indian exercises “KazInd-2023” at the “Matibulak” training ground.
On 21-23 November 2023 the 7th Meeting of the Kazakh-Indian Joint Working Group on Military and Military-Technical cooperation was held in Bangalore (Karnataka).
Air service
According to the Agreement on Air Services signed on 10 September 1993, “Air Astana” currently operates 12 flights per week on the Almaty-Delhi-Almaty route, 2 flights on the Almaty-Mumbai-Almaty route. Indian company “IndiGo” operates 2 flights per week on the Delhi-Almaty-Delhi route.
Scientific, technical, cultural and humanitarian cooperation
In 2020, the first meeting of the Kazakh-Indian Joint Working Group on cooperation in the space industry was held.
In 2020, a “B2B” meeting of Kazakhstani and Indian IT companies took place in the videoconference format.
In 2021, an online meeting was held with the participation of Kazakh and Indian IT companies and responsible government agencies (Kazakh Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry), on 22 December 2021 - a similar meeting took place in the field of pharmaceuticals (from Kazakhstan – “Samruk-Kazyna Pharmacy” JSC and the Ministry of Health).
In 2022, a bust of A.Kunanbaiuly was unveiled in the San Martin Park in New Delhi.
In 2022, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between an international IT startup technology park “Astana Hub” and “T-Hub”, Indian innovation intermediary and business incubator based in Hyderabad, Telangana.
In 2022, special courses for young diplomats of Central Asian states were held in New Delhi within the framework of the “Central Asia-India” Dialogue (5 diplomats participated from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan).
In 2023, a meeting of writers of Kazakhstan and India “Indo-Kazakh Writers' Meet” took place in New Delhi.
In 2023, the Kazakh delegation participated in the conference of young writers of the SCO Member States.
In 2023, the “Ak Kerbez” Dance Ensemble of the Zhambyl Regional Philharmonic named after K.Azerbayev performed in the 9th Indian International Dance and Music Festival in New Delhi.
On 20-30 November 2023, the State Dance Theatre “Naz” of the Akimat of Astana participated in the international folklore festival in the cities of Shillong, Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and New Delhi.