Kazakhstan’s digital push gains momentum with AI-led reforms and UAE partnership

Kazakhstan’s digital transformation agenda took on new impetus in 2026 with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev declaring it the Year of Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence in his New Year address. “The introduction of advanced technologies will make it possible to strengthen the country’s potential in all spheres,” he said, adding in a later interview: “Kazakhstan must become a digital power.”

Addressing the National Kurultai in January, Tokayev said the agenda must be measured through faster decision-making, higher labour productivity and better public services. The goal is not innovation for its own sake but to evolve Kazakhstan from an economy based on raw materials to a knowledge-based model in which technology raises efficiency, improves governance and creates new export streams.

The foundations are already in place. The Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development was established in September 2025, supporting the goal of becoming a fully digital country within three years. Other initiatives include expanding the Astana Hub footprint and launching the national supercomputer clusters Alem.Cloud and Al-Farabium.

International relations are key to driving the agenda, particularly collaboration with the UAE. Emirati investment in Kazakhstan more than doubled in the first half of 2025, and the countries are discussing the creation of a GovTech Innovation Hub as a joint platform to advance digital solutions in public administration. That builds on government partnerships with the UAE’s Presight AI and AIQ across digital infrastructure, energy and smart city development. Said Tokayev: “The UAE is our key partner in the Arab world.”