Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On September 14, 2022, Chinese President Xi Jinping committed to establishing a Luban Workshop in Kazakhstan during his state visit in the country. The workshop will offer education on transportation equipment and technology, and has four major training areas including vehicle maintenance, fuel vehicle systems, new energy vehicles, and smart vehicles. On March 2, 2023, Tianjin Vocational Institute and D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish the workshop. In addition to Chinese government funding, the Tanoto foundation is also financially supporting the project. The amount of funding provided is unknown. On May 18, 2023, workshop construction started. The project was officially inaugurated on December 9, 2023.
Staff comments
1. Luban Workshop (鲁班工坊) is a technical assistance program started by Tianjin's Vocational Institute in BRI countries. While it is an important Chinese foreign policy objective, the workshop is not funded through a specific fund or a government entity. Instead, it is heavily dependent on each project. While the Chinese government may directly fund some projects, Chinese SOEs or the specific vocational schools in Tianjin may fund others. As a result, AidData assumes an unspecified Chinese government agency has funded the project. For more information, please consult: https://www.tj.gov.cn/zwgk/szfwj/tjsrmzfbgt/202005/t20200519_2370529.html?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template and http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/s5147/202112/t20211202_584025.html