Chinese President Hu Jintao starts visit to Kazakhstan

BEIJING, June 12 (Itar-Tass) - Chinese President Hu Jintao is starting
a visit to Kazakhstan on Sunday. He will also visit Russia and Ukraine
later on. Hu Jintao and the leaders of the three countries will discuss
bilateral cooperation and international politics and security.
Ahead of his visit to Kazakhstan the Chinese leader said that China
and Kazakhstan were interested in developing long-term, stable and
comprehensive bilateral relations of strategic partnership because that
meets real long-term interests of the parties. The Chinese president
emphasized that the country should strengthen strategic partnership and
cooperation in organizations like the United Nations, the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization, the Conference for interaction and
confidence-building measures in Asia so as to contribute to the peace and
stability of the region and the whole world.
During his visit to Kazakhstan Hu Jintao will attend a jubilee summit
of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization timed to coincide with the
organization's tenth anniversary. It will sum up the results of the
ten-year work and discuss prospects for cooperation among the SCO member
countries and strengthen cooperation within the United Nations, the CIS
and the ASEAN.
The meeting in Astana is supposed to adopt a Memorandum of commitments
for countries that intend to become SCO members.
Hu Jintao will pay a state visit to Russia on June 15-18. He will hold
talks with President Dmitry Medvedev. The sides are expected to make a
statement on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Russian-Chinese
Treaty on good-neighbourly relations, friendship and cooperation.
Dmitry Medvedev and Hu Jintao will participate in the St. Petersburg
International Economic Forum.
Prior to his visit to Russia Hu Jintao said that the task of
increasing Russian-Chinese trade in the next three or five years to 100
billion dollars was achievable.
The Chinese president will pay a visit to Ukraine on June 18-20. Over
the past ten years it's going to be the first visit of China's top
official to Kiev. The leaders of the two countries are expected to
announce transition to strategic partnership. Last September, Ukrainian
President Viktor Yanukovich paid an official visit to China. The sides
discussed the guidelines for developing trade and economic cooperation and
signed a roadmap for 2010-2012.