Kazakh president meets senior Chinese party official

Kazakh President Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev Monday in Alma-ata met with Chinese senior party official Li Changchun, who arrived here Sunday for an official goodwill visit.

Li, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, extended warm greetings by Chinese President Hu Jintao to Nazarbayev.

The two heads of state met during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan on June 16. Li said the meeting served to give new impetus to the Sino-Kazakh friendship.

The senior party official said since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Kazakhstan 12 years ago, and with care and efforts by heads of the two states, bilateral ties have been smoothly enhanced, with mutual trust promoted and cooperation enlarged.

In particular, he said, heads of the two states successfully exchanged visits in June last year and in May this year.

Li noted that the agreements signed during the visits will enhance and enlarge mutually beneficial cooperation and have forged new momentum for an all-round and sustainable development of the good-neighborly friendship between the two countries.

Nazarbayev said in recent years, leaders of the two countries have frequently exchanged visits, with enhanced political trust, international coordination and fruitful cooperation within the SCO framework.

Kazakhstan treasures its good-neighborly friendship with China and hopes to make concerted efforts to push bilateral ties to a new high, the president said.

Agreeing upon the president's viewpoints of bilateral ties, Li said the Chinese side will join Kazakhstan to abide by the Sino-Kazakh treaty on the good-neighborly and friendly cooperation that was signed in 2002, implement the important consensus reached between the two heads of state, and open up a new page in the Sino-Kazakh friendship.

He noted that the new leadership of the Communist Party of China are fully confident of the future relationship of the two countries.

Later Monday, Li met with A.D. Ilmegiyayev, executive vice president of the Otan Party of Kazakhstan. They agreed that the two parties further strengthen contacts and give full play to the party-to-party relationship that serves as a bridge to promote bilateral good-neighborly ties.

Li left Beijing Sunday morning for Kazakhstan, the first leg of his four-nation tour that will also take him to Ukraine, Greece and France.

Shortly after his arrival here Sunday, Li visited a monument to Xian Xinghai, a well-known Chinese musician who once lived in Alma-Ata and contributed to the Sino-Kazakh cultural exchanges.