Hu Visits Uzbekistan & Kazakhstan

Chinese president arrives in Astana for visit

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-06-11 23:19

ASTANA - Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in the Kazakh capital of Astana Friday for a state visit to the Central Asian nation.

During the visit, the second by the Chinese leader to Kazakhstan in six months, Hu will meet his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev, on the development of the strategic partnership between the two countries, said Chinese diplomats.

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China and Kazakhstan have witnessed sustained, rapid and healthy progress of bilateral ties since they established diplomatic relations 18 years ago. The establishment of a strategic partnership between the two countries in 2005 marked a new phase of development in the relationship.

In recent years, China and Kazakhstan have carried out frequent high-level contact and exchanges, continually deepened mutual trust and conducted fruitful pragmatic cooperation in various fields, including the economy, trade, energy, security and the humanities.

China is now Kazakhstan's second largest trade partner, with bilateral trade totaling $9.4 billion in 2009, according to Kazakhstan's official figures.

The figures also indicate that in the first three months of this year, two-way trade was $2.5 billion, 22 percent higher than the corresponding period of 2009.

Last December, Hu visited Kazakhstan and attended the completion ceremony of the Kazakhstan-China natural gas pipeline with Nazarbayev in Astana.

Hu arrived here from Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, after paying a state visit and attending a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.