Kazakhstan

Khorgos Eastern Gate SEZ

The Khorgos Eastern Gate Special Economic Zone is a logistics SEZ of 5,431.5 hectares in the Zhetysu region, on the Kazakhstan–China border. It was created by presidential decree in 2011 for a term to 2035, and it now operates under a Regulation approved in July 2025. Participants carrying out priority activities receive the standard SEZ tax preferences and the free customs zone procedure. It is a separate zone, with a different regime, from the International Centre for Boundary Cooperation Khorgos, and the two are easily confused.

This guide covers the legal basis, territory, management, permitted activities, the dry port, customs, the relationship with the International Centre, the participant procedure, and points specific to Chinese investors. The general rules for all zones are in Special Economic Zones in Kazakhstan.

Legal Basis and Term

The zone was created by Presidential Decree No. 187 of 29 November 2011, "for the period to 2035". The decree was amended by Decree No. 52 of 7 July 2015 and Decree No. 377 of 25 November 2016. Government Resolution No. 495 of 1 July 2025 approved a new Regulation on the zone and new target indicators, and took effect on signing.

Some reports in 2025 described Resolution No. 495 as creating a new zone. Its title and text do not say that: it approves a Regulation and target indicators, and does not state a term or repeal the decree. The official database shows Decree No. 187 without a repeal note, and the official SEZ portal still dates the zone from 29 November 2011. We therefore treat 2035 as the term. Any project with a horizon beyond that date should confirm the position with the management company.

The zone is also governed by the Law on Special Economic and Industrial Zones No. 242-VI of 3 April 2019, the Tax Code No. 214-VIII of 18 July 2025 and EAEU and Kazakhstan customs law. A ratified treaty prevails over SEZ legislation where the two differ (Regulation, para. 3). The Government may change conditions in the Regulation by resolution (para. 17).

Territory

Construction and other activity in the zone that affects flight safety needs a permit under aviation law (Regulation, para. 5). The target indicators give a sense of the planned scale. Participants are to grow from 67 in the 2024 base year to 85 by 2030 and 95 by 2035, and cumulative investment from KZT 58.3 billion to KZT 715.5 billion by 2035. The local content target rises from 35% to 85%. These are targets for the zone rather than for each participant, and the single coordination centre monitors them (SEZ Law Art. 37).

Management Company

The official SEZ portal names JSC Management Company of the Special Economic Zone Khorgos – Eastern Gate. Under the SEZ Law it signs and terminates activity contracts, allocates land, monitors contracts, and reports to the Ministry and the single coordination centre on the basis of participants' annual reports (Art. 39). It also works on a one-stop basis with state bodies and can provide utility, logistics and consulting services. A Prime Minister's Office review around 2021 described it as wholly owned by a department of the Almaty region. The region has since been divided, so current ownership should be checked in the corporate register before relying on it.

Permitted Activities

Only activities on the zone's priority list carry preferences. The last list published in Order No. 72 of 22 February 2024, as restated on 29 August 2025, covers:

• warehousing and support activities for transport;
• manufacture of food, leather goods, textiles, chemicals, non-metallic mineral products, fabricated metal products, machinery and equipment, household and sanitary paper products, electronic components, and iron, steel and ferroalloys;
• marine and freshwater fish farming;
• construction of exhibition, museum, warehouse and administrative buildings under approved design documents, and of facilities directly intended for priority activities;
• at the airport only: hotels with restaurants, aircraft repair and maintenance, and wholesale of aviation fuel.

Order No. 516 of 16 October 2026 removed the per-zone list from Order No. 72, and the SEZ Law requires the list to be published on the coordination centre's website (Art. 19). Check that published list on the day of filing. A manufacturing applicant must also show that the product is not made in Kazakhstan, or that local output does not cover demand (Art. 18). Plain distribution and retail are not on the list above.

Dry Port and Logistics

The zone's anchor is the dry port operated by KTZE-Khorgos Gateway LLP and managed by KTZ Express JSC. Its function is transhipment between the two rail gauges: a Prime Minister's Office review describes three tracks of 1,435 mm Chinese gauge and three of 1,520 mm Kazakhstan gauge, with temporary storage warehouses, on about 129.8 hectares. Chinese partners COSCO Shipping and Lianyungang Port bought a combined 49% of the operator under a 2017 agreement.

Published throughput was 136,000 TEU in 2018 and 210,000 TEU in 2020. In December 2025 the head of the Zhetysu region said an expansion had raised capacity to 800,000 containers a year. That figure comes from a press report of a briefing and we have not seen it in an official document.

For a logistics tenant the legal point is this: a person who is not a participant can store goods in a logistics SEZ under a service contract with a participant, provided the operations do not change the goods' tariff code (Customs Code Arts. 281 and 282). A shipper therefore does not always need its own participant status. It needs one if it wants the tax preferences or wants to process goods.

Customs Regime

The free customs zone procedure applies in the zone or part of it (Regulation, para. 9). Goods placed under it are treated as outside the EAEU customs territory for duties, taxes and non-tariff measures (para. 14; SEZ Law Art. 53), and they can be stored, repacked, processed and consumed there if the activity contract allows (Customs Code Art. 285). Temporary storage sites can operate in the zone (para. 12).

As a logistics SEZ the zone follows the Customs Code rules for port and logistics zones. Entry needs customs permission, and goods are treated as placed under the procedure on arrival, subject to listed exceptions (Arts. 283 and 284). Goods made from foreign goods have their customs status decided under Articles 281 and 290, which matters for sales into the EAEU. The relief applies only while goods stay in the zone. Removing them generally ends the procedure (Art. 287).

The customs zone must be fenced and fitted with video surveillance to customs requirements (para. 11). Paragraph 13 of the Regulation uses wording that refers to a zone on the EAEU customs border, and it excludes goods under customs transit. Operators planning transit flows should clear this point with customs at the outset.

How It Relates to the International Centre for Boundary Cooperation Khorgos

The International Centre is a joint Kazakhstan–China complex created under a framework agreement of 24 September 2004 and regulated by an intergovernmental agreement of 4 July 2005, as amended by a protocol in force from 7 September 2015. It has Kazakhstan and Chinese parts on either side of the border, joined by a special crossing. Each part is under its own state's jurisdiction (Art. 2). The Kazakhstan part also has SEZ status under Resolution No. 624 of 6 October 2017. The two Khorgos zones are separate.

The Centre has features Eastern Gate does not. Citizens of both states and third-country nationals may enter it without a visa for up to 30 days, through the entry point they used, and leave the same way (agreement, Art. 15). It has fixed opening hours. Goods from China entering it are generally not declared unless they are to leave for elsewhere or are used for construction or processing (Customs Code Art. 291). Foreign goods may be sold to individuals only in duty-free shops, subject to listed cases. Work by a citizen of one state in the other state's part follows that state's law and any bilateral agreement (Art. 43).

Participant Procedure

The general procedure in Article 18 of the SEZ Law applies.

Article 18 sets no application fee. Infrastructure, utility and service charges are a matter for the management company and should be agreed in writing. Project value sets the relief period: 7, 15 or 25 years, but never past the zone's term. On a 2035 expiry, a contract signed in 2027 has about eight years of relief even in Category C, unless the zone is extended. That should go into the financial model at the start.

Non-priority income is taxed normally, and separate accounts are required. Annual reporting, cure periods and termination follow the general rules in Special Economic Zones in Kazakhstan. A participant that loses status also loses its sublease and its tax relief, and has six months to complete the customs procedure.

What Is Specific for Chinese Investors

Use a Kazakhstan entity. Article 18 bars foreign individuals and foreign legal entities from applying to the SEZ whose boundaries coincide with the EAEU customs border. The Customs Code treats that as a single zone (Art. 291), and the International Centre's Regulation describes itself in those terms, while Eastern Gate's calls it a logistics SEZ. A Chinese company is therefore clearly barred from applying directly to the International Centre zone, and the bar does not on its face apply to Eastern Gate. But the Eastern Gate Regulation uses the border wording in one paragraph, and tax registration and the no-branch rule point to a local entity in any case. The sound course is a Kazakhstan LLP or JSC, which may be wholly Chinese-owned. See Company Formation in Kazakhstan.

Land is held on sublease, not owned. Foreign legal entities cannot buy state land in a zone (SEZ Law Art. 17). Land in the border zone cannot be owned by foreign persons or by Kazakhstan entities with foreign participation, and land in the border strip is not granted at all (Land Code Art. 23). The right to buy on expiry of a zone is expressly subject to these limits (SEZ Law Art. 24). A Chinese-owned participant should plan on keeping a sublease only and should check each plot's status. Lenders will need the same analysis. See Land Use Rights in Kazakhstan.

Tax treaty. The Kazakhstan–China tax treaty of 12 September 2001 caps dividend withholding at 10%. Domestic rules can give a lower 5% rate on qualifying dividends. Zone relief covers the participant's own corporate income tax, not tax on dividends paid to the Chinese parent, so the holding chain needs separate review. See Withholding Tax and Double Tax Treaties and Tax Advisory in Kazakhstan.

Chinese staff. For a project above 1,000,000 MCI (KZT 4.325 billion in 2026), staff of the participant and its contractors can be outside the quota and employer permit rules during construction and for one year after commissioning. This applies only within categories and numbers set by a commission (Migration Law Art. 36-1). Plan for ordinary work permits once that period ends. The local content target in the Regulation points the same way. Visa-free entry to the International Centre is not a right to work or stay in Kazakhstan. Entry to Eastern Gate follows the general entry rules (Regulation, para. 16).

Investment protection. The SEZ Law protects participants' rights, limits forced taking of property to exceptional cases set by law, and lets them use after-tax income freely (Art. 55). The status of any treaty protection should be confirmed for the actual investing entity. See Investment Protection and BITs and Profit Repatriation and Currency Control.

Trade compliance. Goods moving through the zone remain subject to prohibitions and restrictions (Customs Code Art. 282). Operators on the China–EAEU corridor should screen cargo and counterparties. See Sanctions and Trade Compliance.

Common Mistakes by Foreign Investors

• Confusing the two Khorgos zones. They have different terms, management, tax, customs and eligibility rules, so an application or a tax analysis for one does not carry over.
• Relying on 2025 press reports of a new zone. The term still comes from the 2011 decree, and a 25-year assumption could overstate the relief.
• Assuming a VAT exemption inside Eastern Gate. The exemption for supplies inside the zone belongs to the border zone. Eastern Gate follows the general rules.
• Planning trading as a priority activity. Wholesale and retail appear on the International Centre's last published list, not on Eastern Gate's, apart from aviation fuel at the airport.
• Applying through the Chinese parent. This fails for the International Centre and creates tax registration problems at Eastern Gate.
• Using old activity lists. The list left Order No. 72 in October 2026, so copies of the order no longer show it.

Bond Stone advises foreign investors on zone selection, applications and activity contracts. To discuss a project, write to info@bondstonelaw.com or use the contact page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Khorgos Eastern Gate a new SEZ?

No, on our reading. It dates from Decree No. 187 of 29 November 2011. Resolution No. 495 of 1 July 2025 approved a new Regulation and target indicators, and enlarged the stated territory from 4,591.5 to 5,431.5 hectares. The official SEZ portal still gives 2011 as the zone's date.

When does the zone expire?

Decree No. 187 says to 2035, and the target indicators in Resolution No. 495 also run to 2035. The Government may extend a zone if more than 20% of its land is undeveloped or potential investors exist. One Prime Minister's Office review gave 2036, so the exact end date should be confirmed.

Can a Chinese company hold SEZ status directly?

Not in the International Centre zone. For Eastern Gate the bar does not on its face apply, but a Kazakhstan subsidiary is the sound route, because of tax registration in the zone and the limits on branches. The subsidiary may be wholly Chinese-owned.

Are goods from China duty-free in the zone?

Under the free customs zone procedure, goods are held and used in the zone without customs duties and taxes, subject to bans and restrictions. If they move on into the EAEU market, the procedure ends and duties and taxes must be dealt with on that release.

Can we use the dry port without being a participant?

Yes. A non-participant can place goods in a logistics SEZ under a service contract with a participant, if the operations do not change the tariff code. That gives access to the customs procedure, but not to the participant's tax preferences.

Which Khorgos zone suits a manufacturer?

Eastern Gate has a dedicated industrial zone and a list covering most mainstream manufacturing. The International Centre's list is focused on trade, services and light manufacturing, and foreign applicants are barred. The right answer depends on the product and the target market.

Related pages

• Special Economic Zones in Kazakhstan
• Investment Incentives & SEZs in Kazakhstan
• Foreign Investment in Kazakhstan
• Land Use Rights in Kazakhstan
• Tax Advisory in Kazakhstan

Primary sources: Decree No. 187 of 29 November 2011; Resolution No. 495 of 1 July 2025; Resolutions No. 624 of 6 October 2017 and No. 343 of 29 May 2019; Agreement of 4 July 2005 (Resolution No. 877 of 25 August 2005) and Protocol of 14 December 2014 (Resolution No. 447 of 17 June 2015); Law No. 242-VI; Tax Code No. 214-VIII, Arts. 470, 471, 474, 734, 735; Customs Code No. 123-VI, Arts. 281–291; Land Code No. 442-II, Arts. 23, 119-2; Law No. 477-IV, Art. 36-1; Order No. 72 of 22 February 2024, all at old.adilet.zan.kz; official SEZ portal at sez.qazindustry.gov.kz.