In an interview with RIA Novosti, Kasymzhomart Tokayev said his country understood that energy-hungry China was interested in securing new energy sources and hoped that it would use his Central Asian republic as a transit country.
"How this gas will be supplied to China and through which pipelines will be the subject of new agreements," the minister said.
In particular, he said that the president of Turkmenistan said during a recent visit to Kazakhstan that he wanted to supply China with 30 billion cu m of natural gas, whereas Russia is preparing to send another 70 billion cu m.
In addition, Tokayev said Kazakhstan, which has been enjoying an economic boom thanks to its mineral wealth, was considering a project to build a gas pipeline across the Caspian Sea, which in some ways echoes an ambitious Russian energy project to supply Germany and western Europe with gas across the Baltic Sea.
He said the idea was under discussion with the European Union and geopolitical considerations had to be taken into account, but was upbeat about the project.
"In principle, the more opportunities we have to export our energy resources, the better," he said.
