URUMQI - Chinese Vice-Premier Li Keqiang met here on Thursday with Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva and Azerbaijan's Vice Premier Abid Sharifov, respectively.

When conferring with Otunbayeva, Li hailed the recent growth of Sino-Kyrgyz relations, saying the two have huge cooperation potential in fields such as trade and infrastructure construction.

China always regards Kyrgyzstan as good neighbor, good friend and good partner, Li said, noting that China is ready to enhance cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and China's western regions, particularly the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, by improving trade and investment conditions, implementing contracted projects, and stepping up people-to-people exchanges.

Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries and the 10th anniversary of the signing of a good-neighbor and friendly cooperation treaty.

Li said both sides should take this opportunity to push bilateral ties to a new high.

Otunbayeva expressed her gratitude for aid China has offered, pledging that Kyrgyzstan will remain committed to continuing to develop friendly ties with China.

The two leaders also witnessed the signing of a bilateral economic and technological agreement after the meeting.

In his meeting with Sharifov, Li praised the effective coordination that China and Azerbaijan have forged in dealing with international issues and encouraged the two nations to seize opportunities that could emerge during the 20th anniversary of the establishment of China-Azerbaijan diplomatic relations next year and, therefore, boost bilateral cooperation to a higher level and bigger scale.

China attaches great importance to relations with Azerbaijan, Li told his counterpart, adding that China always considers Azerbaijan its reliable friend and sincere cooperation partner and is willing to lift bilateral relations to a new height.

Echoing Li's views, Sharifov said Azerbaijan also highly values its comprehensive and cooperative relations with China, expressing his hope that the two nations could further increase high level exchanges in an aim to lay a solid foundation for furthering the development of Azerbaijan-China relations.

Otunbayeva and Sharifov are both here to attend the first China-Eurasia Expo being held from September 1-5.

The expo, which is expected to attract over 10,000 foreign participants, grew out of the China Urumqi Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Fair, which had been held annually since 1992.