China, Kazakhstan pledge to deepen pragmatic cooperation

ASTANA, May 17(Xinhua)--Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong visited Kazakhstan from Wednesday to Friday and met with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov and Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin respectively, exchanging in-depth and comprehensive views on bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields.

Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, conveyed cordial greetings from President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov.

He noted that under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, China-Kazakhstan permanent comprehensive strategic partnership has entered a "golden period" of rapid development and cooperation in various fields has reached an unprecedented high level.

Liu stressed that China is ready to work with Kazakhstan to continue to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, firmly support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests, comprehensively advance the alignment of national development strategies and continuously deepen practical cooperation.

Meanwhile, China is committed to enhancing coordination and cooperation with Kazakhstan within the multilateral framework including China-Central Asia mechanism, Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the United Nations and jointly building an even closer China-Kazakhstan community with a shared future, he added.

Tokayev and Bektenov asked Liu to convey their warm greetings to President Xi and Premier Li.

They spoke highly of the fruitful development of bilateral ties.

The Kazakh leaders emphasized that their country firmly adheres to the one-China principle and is willing to work with China to jointly build the Belt and Road with high quality, comprehensively deepen practical cooperation, continuously expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges, resolutely fight against the "three forces" and promote new development of Kazakhstan-China relations.

During the visit, Liu also met with the mayor of Almaty and the governors of four Kazakh oblasts adjacent to Xinjiang, reaching consensus on promoting local cooperation between the two countries.