Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (R) meets with Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, on April 17, 2009. Nazarbayev arrived here to attend the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2009 which would be held in Boao, Hainan from April 17 to 19. [Xinhua]

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met on Friday with Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev and discussed the measures to withstand the impact of the global financial crisis.

The two leaders, who were in the city of Sanya for the 2009 meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in south China's Hainan Province, expressed willingness to make concerted efforts to cope with the crisis.

Wen spoke highly of the rapid development of the China-Kazakhstan strategic partnership.

Wen put forward a four-point proposal on enhancing Sino-Kazakh cooperation to tide over the difficulties. He said the two countries should:

-- take effective measures to maintain the growth of bilateral trade;

-- fulfill previous agreements and give priority to the cooperation in the energy and resources sectors;

-- reinforce financial and investment cooperation to ensure smooth implementation of major cooperation projects;

-- promote cooperation in the non-resources field, such as infrastructures, so as to forge a more dynamic bilateral trade relation.

Nazarbayev said the two countries had signed a series of cooperative documents during his visit, which fully reflected the common will of the two nations to jointly resist the financial crisis and China's strong support to Kazakhstan.

He believed that China would certainly be able to cope with the challenges, which was crucial for strengthening the international effort in combating the crisis.

Kazakhstan agreed with China's tentative plan on enhancing economic and trade cooperation between the two countries and was ready to work with China to boost cooperation in such sectors as oil and gas, agriculture, technology innovation, finance and transportation, he said.

The BFA, established in 2001, is a high-level forum where governments, businesses and scholars promote regional economic integration and bring Asian countries closer to their development goals.

Under the theme "Asia: Managing Beyond Crisis," more than 1,600 participants will discuss how to cope with the international financial crisis.

(Xinhua News Agency April 18, 2009)