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Business partnership has been the driving force of bilateral relations between Kazakhstan and Canada. Canadian Government's 2013 Global Markets Action Plan named Kazakhstan among its priority countries.
Embassy of Kazakhstan supports delegations from Kazakhstan during major international events in Canada and regularly hosts business seminars on Kazakhstan's investment climate and new economic opportunities across Canada.
From January to May 2019 bilateral trade amounted to US$154 million (Kazakhstan's export – $52.8 million, import – $101.2 million), which is a 58% increase compared to the same period of 2018 (export 43.1 million, import 47.4 million).
Canada has always been among Kazakhstan's top foreign investors. Canadian investments in Kazakhstan reached US$79 million in 2019 Q1, a 63.6% increase from 2018 Q1. Gross FDI from Canada to Kazakhstan since 2005 is more than US$4.6 billion.
More than 160 Kazakh-Canadian joint ventures are registered in Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan and Canada signed the intergovernmental Agreement on Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, which entered into force in 2014. This important event brought cooperation in the uranium sector to a new level. Since 2019, Kazakhstan has been the world's largest uranium producer, followed by Canada.
Cameco Corporation – a member of the Foreign Investors' Council chaired by the President of Kazakhstan – is Kazakhstan's key partner in the uranium sector. Since 1992, Cameco has invested over US$400 million in Kazakhstan's uranium industry, including in the JV Inkai in cooperation with “NAC Kazatomprom" JSC.
Other important areas of economic cooperation include mining, geological survey, agriculture and agro-industry. There is a regular exchange of business delegations, including from Canadian provinces that play a key role in expanding Canada's business ties with the world.
Galymzhan Pirmatov, Chairman of the Board of "Kazatomprom", and Tim Gitzel, President and CEO of Cameco, co-chair the Kazakhstan Canada Business Council. It was launched in 2015 and held three meetings in Kazakhstan in 2016-2017 and in Ottawa in 2018. More than 100 companies from both countries, along with government officials and business associations, take part in the work of the Business Council, which consists of six working groups: 1) mining and natural resources; 2) agriculture and the food sector; 3) oil and gas (production and technology); 4) infrastructure and construction; 5) transport (including railway transport and civil aviation); 6) finance and banking.
The new promising areas of partnership include aerospace sector, military-industrial complex, engineering, alternative energy, finance and banking.