China, Kazakhstan pledge stronger ties during Nazarbayev visit

Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Beijing on Monday, agreeing to build stronger ties.

Xi welcomed Nazarbayev to China for his state visit and to participate in the country's V-Day celebrations on Sept. 3.

Xi praised the progress of ties since the two forged an all-round strategic partnership in 2011, citing expanded cooperation, solid political trust and efficient coordination.

He called on both sides to strengthen support for each other and safeguard each other's core interests.

Xi called for improved bilateral cooperation in capacity, investment, trade, energy, infrastructure and high technology, and urged the countries to make full use of financing mechanisms such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund.

The two leaders agreed to integrate the China-proposed Silk Road Economic Belt with Kazakhstan's new economic policy, called the Bright Road, to achieve common prosperity.

China is ready to cement security cooperation with Kazakhstan to jointly safeguard regional peace and stability, Xi said.

"We support Kazakhstan's efforts to host the 2017 World Expo in Astana and 2017 Winter Universiade in Almaty," said the Chinese president, vowing joint efforts with the country to hold cultural activities and a tourism year to strengthen friendship.

Xi and Nazarbayev also agreed to enhance coordination on major topics including regional issues, climate change, food security and information security.

Nazarbayev said he is glad to attend China's V-Day celebrations, underscoring the Chinese people's sacrifices and great contributions to the victory in WWII.

He said the Kazakh-China all-round strategic partnership has entered a new stage as both sides implement the consensus reached during Xi's visit to Kazakhstan in May.

Kazakhstan is willing to deepen cooperation with China in the economy, trade, investment, industrial capacity, technological innovation, tourism and security.

They also exchanged views on issues related to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

Xi and Nazarbayev signed a joint declaration on deepening the bilateral all-round strategic partnership and witnessed the signing of a number of cooperation documents in law, capacity, investment, culture, infrastructure construction, mine exploration, finance and other fields.

According to the declaration, China has confirmed it will participate in the 2017 World Expo in Astana and will present its ideas on energy-efficiency during the Expo.

The two sides will support big cooperative projects in industrial capacity and investment and will assist domestic financial institutions to provide financing to enterprises in charge of those projects, said the declaration.

The two sides agreed to take new measures to improve economic and trade cooperation, such as promoting high value-added and high-tech products, improving the legal foundation for bilateral trade and investment, and expanding cooperation in agriculture and forestry, it said.

The two sides signed a new cooperative agreement on culture and people-to-people exchanges, which will promote the mutual establishment of cultural centers between the two countries.

China and Kazakhstan decided to deepen their energy partnership, conducting cooperation in oil and gas field exploration and crude oil processing.

The two sides will expedite construction of major cooperation projects in crude oil and natural gas pipelines, said the document.

The two sides agreed to begin consultation on a draft agreement on water quantity allocation of transboundary rivers.

In the document, the two countries vowed to jointly combat the "three forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism, as well as drug trafficking and weapon smuggling.

They also agreed to enhance information sharing between law-enforcement departments and tighten border management and control. Endi