Chinese Vice-President Arrives in Kazakhstan

Vice-President Hu Arrives in Kazakhstan

Chinese Vice-President Hu Jintao arrived Asyana Thursday evening, starting his four-day official visit to Kazakhstan, the largest country in Central Asia and a good neighbor of China.

The Chinese vice-president was warmly welcomed at the airport by Prime Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev and other Kazakh high-ranking officials.

Hu said in a written statement issued at the airport upon his arrival that China and Kazakhstan are close neighbors. The two peoples have built century-old profound friendship and conducted friendly exchanges which could be found in the historic record of the well-known "Silk Road", he pointed out.

The establishment of diplomatic relations eight years ago, Hu went on to say, unfolded a new chapter for bilateral friendly ties.Since then bilateral relations have been growing well and yielded satisfying results through ever-expanding cooperation in various fields. He noted that the complete settlement of Sino-Kazakh borders also laid a solid foundation for a long stable and healthy development of the good-neighborly and friendly ties and cooperation between the two nations.

The Chinese vice-president expressed hope that his meetings and talks with Kazakh leaders will "explore new methods and ways of further deepening mutually beneficial cooperation, in a bid to work out a beautiful blueprint for the bilateral ties in the 21st century."

In Kazakhstan, Hu is scheduled to hold talks with Kazakh Prime Minister Tokayev and meet President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The two sides are expected to exchange views on bilateral relations and regional or international issues of mutual concern.

Kazakhstan is the last leg of Hu's current five-nation tour, which also includes Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and Byelorussia.