ASTANA, September 17. /Dunyo IA/. Kazakhstan plans to launch a cross-border QR payment system with China by the end of 2026, reports Dunyo IA correspondent.

The announcement was made by Binur Zhalenov, Deputy Chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, on the sidelines of the Central Asia FinTech Summit, in response to a question from “Kazinform”.

According to him, Kazakhstan is currently working on the introduction of cross-border payment services with 11 countries, including China, India, the United Arab Emirates, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

The system is expected to become operational in practice on the Chinese route by the end of this year, while implementation with the other countries will proceed in stages and is expected to be completed by mid-2027.

“We are currently working on cross-border payments with 11 countries, including China, India, the United Arab Emirates, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, among others. We expect the system to be operational in practice for the Chinese route by the end of the year,” Binur Zhalenov said.

The new mechanism will allow Kazakh citizens to pay for purchases in China using a QR code through their usual banking applications. Chinese citizens visiting Kazakhstan will have access to a similar payment option.

“For example, when you are in China, a QR code is generated there, and you scan it using your regular banking application, after which the payment is processed automatically. The same applies when they come to Kazakhstan,” the Deputy Chairman of the National Bank explained.

As noted by the “South China Morning Post”, the initiative could contribute to expanding the use of the Chinese yuan beyond trade and investment transactions to everyday retail payments. The project also builds on existing cooperation between the payment platforms Alipay and Kaspi.kz.

According to the publication, experts view the development of QR payments as one of the steps toward expanding the international use of the yuan in consumer transactions.