China, Kazakhstan establish strategic partnership

Chinese President Hu Jintao (L) shakes hands with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev after signing a joint statement on the establishment and development of strategic partnership between the two countries, in Astana, July 4, 2005.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev agreed on Monday in Astana to establish a strategic partnership between the two countries.

At a press briefing after talks with Nazarbayev in the Kazakh capital, where Hu is on a state visit, Hu said he and Nazarbayev signed a historic joint statement on establishing the strategic partnership.

"We have agreed to continue to take measures to enrich the strategic partnership between China and Kazakhstan," Hu told reporters.

Both sides should continue to maintain high-level exchange of visits and deepen mutual trust, Hu said.

He urged both sides to cooperate more extensively in trade, energy, transportation and security, and explore new ways of cooperation.

The two countries have signed seven agreements on cooperation in geology and mineral resources utilization, railway transportation, electricity, border, information and telecommunications, he said.

Exchanges and cooperation in culture, education, health care and technology also need to be strengthened, he said, adding that both sides should step up security cooperation to crack down on the "three evil forces" of terrorism, extremism and separatism, including the "Eastern Turkistan" separatists, terrorists and extremists, Hu said.

The Chinese president also called for more coordination and cooperation in international and regional issues so as to better safeguard global and regional peace and stability.

Describing bilateral cooperation in various sectors as having firm legal foundation and perfect organizational guarantee, and achieving fruitful results, he said the two countries' cooperation in the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization ( SCO) has been fruitful.

Nazarbayev, for his part, said Kazakhstan and China have enhanced mutual understanding and share identical and similar views on many issues.

Noting that President Hu's visit would push Kazakh-Chinese cooperation to a new level, Nazarbayev said the two countries should strengthen cooperation in international organizations, including the SCO and the UN, especially over UN reform.

Hu flied into the capital of Kazakhstan on Sunday afternoon and will attend the SCO's fifth summit scheduled for Tuesday, before proceeding to Britain for a meeting between leaders of Group of Eight most industrialized countries and five leading developing countries -- Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa.

Source: Xinhua