Development Co‑operation Profiles: Kazakhstan
Table of contents
Kazakhstan has a long history of development co-operation with other countries in its region, providing development aid and reporting to the OECD for over a decade. Kazakhstan’s Agency of International Development (KazAID) was established in 2020, marking a new phase in the country’s development co‑operation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the designated authority to implement Kazakhstan’s official development assistance (ODA) policy. Kazakhstan provided the majority of its ODA bilaterally through multilateral channels, and its commitments focused on social infrastructure. In 2023, Kazakhstan’s total official development assistance (ODA) was USD 31.7 million, representing 0.01% of gross national income (GNI).1
This profile presents verified data on development assistance allocation. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
Development co-operation is an integral and increasingly important part of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy. The 2014 ODA Law (263-V) defines the main objectives, principles, competencies and sectoral priorities of Kazakhstan’s development co-operation while also providing the legal foundation for establishing an agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As outlined in the ODA Law, Kazakhstan’s development co‑operation is guided by a commitment to enhance the country’s integration in the international relations system; to strengthen peace, stability, and regional and global security; and to contribute to the sustainable socio-economic development of partner countries, with a priority on climate and the environment. The law also specifies that Kazakhstan’s ODA should focus on specific sectors within partner countries, for instance: agriculture and food security, environmental protection, assistance in addressing transboundary water issues, conflict prevention and security, education and science, healthcare, and improvement of public administration systems.
The key strategic document that outlines the priorities, fundamental tools, instruments and financing modalities for Kazakhstan’s development co-operation is the Main Guidelines of State Policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Official Development Assistance for 2021-2025, approved by Presidential Decree No. 625 from 19 July 2021. The guidelines detail the planning and management process for aid projects. They also align with Kazakhstan’s commitment to tackling global and regional challenges in accordance with other strategic documents, including the Foreign Policy Concept of Kazakhstan 2020-2030.
Guided by this overarching policy framework, the majority of Kazakhstan’s aid goes to Central Asian countries and Afghanistan, where KazAID focuses on technical assistance in areas such as education, healthcare, digitalisation, entrepreneurship and other spheres. Kazakhstan is also aiming, as a longer term objective, to direct its development co-operation activities to other regions beyond its neighbourhood, including in African countries.
Kazakhstan provided USD 31.7 million of ODA in 2023, representing 0.01% of GNI.2 This was a decrease of 18% in real terms in volume and a decrease in the share of GNI from 2022. Kazakhstan is making efforts to increase its official development assistance in line with SDG target 17.2. Total ODA on a grant-equivalent basis has the same value as net ODA under the cash-flow methodology used in the past, as Kazakhstan provides only grants.3
Kazakhstan has committed to several international targets and Development Assistance Committee (DAC) standards and recommendations. Learn more about DAC Recommendations.
Note: This table only includes information about ODA data-related DAC Recommendations. ODA: official development assistance; GNI: gross national income.
Kazakhstan provided a higher share of its ODA bilaterally in 2023. Gross bilateral ODA was 82.7% of total ODA disbursements. Almost 43% of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions). Kazakhstan allocated 17.3% of total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations.
In 2023, Kazakhstan provided USD 16.7 million of gross ODA to the multilateral system, a fall of 43% in real terms from 2022. Of this, USD 5.5 million was core multilateral ODA, while USD 11.2 million was non-core contributions earmarked for a specific country, region, theme or purpose. All of Kazakhstan’s non-core contributions was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).
The United Nations (UN) system received 42.3% of Kazakhstan’s contributions to multilateral organisations, of which USD 2 million (28.5%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 7.1 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Kazakhstan’s support (core and earmarked contributions) were the World Health Organization (USD 2.5 million), the UN Secretariat (USD 2.2 million), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (USD 700 thousand).
See the section on Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system.
In 2023, Kazakhstan’s bilateral spending declined compared to the previous year. It provided USD 26.2 million of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented a decrease of 24.8% in real terms from 2022.
In 2023, country programmable aid amounted to USD 700 thousand, or 2.5% of Kazakhstan’s gross bilateral ODA, compared to the non-DAC country average of 37.7%.
In 2023, Kazakhstan channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through public sector and multilateral organisations.
In 2023, Kazakhstan’s bilateral ODA primarily focused on Asia (excluding Middle East). USD 10.7 million was allocated to Asia (excluding the Middle East) and USD 2.2 million to countries in Africa, accounting respectively for 41% and 8.5% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 1.2 million was allocated to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 1% was for Ukraine). Countries in Africa were also the main regional recipient of Kazakhstan’s earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations.
In 2023, 51.5% of gross bilateral ODA went to Kazakhstan’s top 10 recipients, mostly notably in Asia and the Middle East. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 44.2%.
In 2023, Kazakhstan allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (29.3%) to lower middle-income countries in 2023, noting that 44.2% was unallocated by income group. Least developed countries received 18.8% of Kazakhstan’s gross bilateral ODA (4.9 million). Additionally, Kazakhstan allocated 32.9% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2023, equal to USD 8.6 million.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility was USD 10.1 million in 2023, representing 38.4% of Kazakhstan’s gross bilateral ODA. Almost 68% of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance. Learn more on the OECD States of Fragility platform.
In 2023, the largest focus of Kazakhstan’s bilateral ODA was social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 38.3% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 10 million), with a strong focus on support to education (USD 4.8 million), health and population (USD 2 million), and government and civil society (USD 1.6 million). ODA for humanitarian assistance totalled USD 9.2 million, with a focus on emergency response (USD 9.2 million). Economic infrastructure and services amounted to USD 3.6 million (13.8% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations focused also on social sectors and economic sectors in 2023.
Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD) is an international statistical standard that monitors and increases transparency of all official and officially supported resources for financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in developing countries, as well as for addressing global challenges. In 2023, activities reported by Kazakhstan as TOSSD totalled USD 32million, down from USD 50.4 million in 2022. Kazakhstan’s TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals), SDG 4 (quality education) and SDG 1 (end poverty). Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at: https://tossd.online.
Kazakhstan’s Law No. 263-V on Official Development Assistance (December 2014) describes the main objectives, principles, competencies and sectoral priorities of Kazakhstan’s ODA. The law designates the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the central authority for implementing Kazakhstan’s ODA. The same legislation also provided the legal basis for establishing KazAID on 15 December 2020 under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
KazAID is the designated authority that implements the main lines of Kazakhstan’s development co‑operation. It is the “national operator” of the ODA system in Kazakhstan. The key areas of KazAID’s operations include technical assistance to partner countries (primarily Central Asian states), co-ordination of development efforts between the relevant ministries, and facilitation of partnerships with key stakeholders and development actors in the region. In its operation, KazAID is directed by the Main Guidelines of State Policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Official Development Assistance for 2021-2025, which set out the fundamental tools, instruments and financing modalities for Kazakhstan’s development co-operation for the period up to 2025.
Other ministries in Kazakhstan are also responsible for implementing development co-operation. Educational scholarships are funded and operated through the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and other educational institutions of Kazakhstan. Humanitarian aid is channelled through the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Although it is not the direct mandate of KazAID, the agency still monitors and accounts for the humanitarian assistance provided in close co-ordination with the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Kazakhstan Agency of International Development ‘’KazAID’’: https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/kazaid?lang=ru
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan: www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/mfa?lang=en
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2021), Main Guidelines of State Policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Official Development Assistance for 2021-2025, www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/kazaid/documents/details/456584?lang=en
Kazakhstan has reported to the OECD activity-level data since 2014 on 2013 activities.
Kazakhstan is an Adherent to the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas.
KAZAid is working with the OECD Development Co-operation Directorate to strengthen its capacity in ODA reporting and strategic planning and programming. Kazakhstan has expressed informally an interest in becoming a participant of the OECD DAC.
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including the grant-equivalent methodology, core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, country programmable aid, channels of delivery, bilateral ODA unspecified/unallocated, bilateral allocable ODA, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.
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← 1. DAC members adopted the grant-equivalent methodology starting from their reporting of 2018 data as a more accurate way to count the donor effort in development loans. See the methodological notes for further details.
← 2. DAC members adopted the grant-equivalent methodology starting from their reporting of 2018 data as a more accurate way to count the donor effort in development loans. See the methodological notes for further details.
← 3. Non-grants include sovereign loans, multilateral loans, equity investment and loans to the private sector.