Kazakh president begins state visit to China

BEIJING, February 21 (Itar-Tass) -- Issues of deepening bilateral
cooperation between Beijing and Astana will be high on the agenda of a
state visit of President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan to China which begins on Monday.
As spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry Ma Zhaosui said, during talks between the Kazakh president and Chinese President Hu Jintao, the sides will discuss ways of strengthening of relations of strategic partnership, expansion of the two countries' business cooperation and intensification of their interaction in different fields. They will also exchange opinions on topical international and regional problems.
Nazarbayev will also have meetings with Chinese Prime Minister Weng Jiabao and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the All-China Assembly of People' s Representatives U Bango.
On the results of the visit, which will last untill February 23, the sides are expected to adopt a joint political document, as well as sign agreements on cooperation between departments and enterprises of China and Kazakhstan. The visit program envisages Nazarbayev's meeting with representatives of the two countries' business circles and a visit to the city of Tianjin - - the biggest port and one of the key industrial centres of China.
Despite negative influence of the global financial crisis, the volume of bilateral trade turnover between China and Kazakhstan reached, according to the results of 2010, a record-high level of 20.4 billion dollars. "There is a stable tendency of diversifying cooperation," ambassador of Kazakhstan to China Ikram Adyrbekov told journalists.
"Successful implementation of joint energy projects is going on,
scientific, technical and humanitarian contacts are expanding."
During the visit, the issue of building up interaction within the
framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a jubilee summit of which will be held in Astana this year, will be discussed separately.