Chinese, Kazakh FMs vow to enhance cooperation

ASTANA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday jointly met the press here with Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Murat Nurtleu following their talks.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said the talks were fruitful, practical, and efficient, with both sides agreeing that the development of China-Kazakhstan relations conforms to the trends of the times and the broader international context, with everlasting friendship, deep mutual trust, and solidarity defining the theme of the bilateral relations.

Under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, China and Kazakhstan have deepened political trust, supported each other on issues of their respective core interests, and provided strong support in times of difficulty, becoming an actual community with a shared future, Wang said.

China deeply appreciates that Kazakhstan has reaffirmed its adherence to the one-China principle, and that Kazakhstan views Taiwan as an inseparable part of China's territory, said Wang.

As Kazakhstan recently suffered from severe floods, China is willing to continue providing as much help as possible to assist in the reconstruction work, said Wang.

He noted that both sides spoke highly of the fruitful outcomes of their cooperation. According to Chinese statistics, bilateral trade reached 41 billion U.S. dollars last year, achieving the target set by the two heads of state seven years ahead of schedule. To date, 26 out of the 45 capacity cooperation projects have been completed, in such sectors as mining and metals, energy resources, machinery manufacturing, building materials, chemicals and infrastructure construction. Cooperation in oil and gas and nuclear energy is also accelerating.

The two sides agreed to continue leveraging their industrial and market complementarities to jointly participate in the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative with high quality. They will also further solidify the foundation of cooperation in traditional sectors such as trade, investment, energy, connectivity, and agriculture, and continue to create new highlights in new quality productive forces such as financial services, artificial intelligence, digital economy, new energy and other innovative fields.

China is keen to increase imports of high-quality agricultural products from Kazakhstan, he said.

The two sides decided to further strengthen cooperation on China-Europe freight trains and create more favorable conditions for this, including enhancing port clearance and cargo capacity, providing better transportation services, and refining transit policies. Both sides actively support the construction of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor, which they believe is crucial for promoting connectivity across the Eurasian continent. To this end, it is necessary to advance relative infrastructure construction and strengthen coordination among the involved countries. China and Kazakhstan are discussing the construction of a third cross-border railway and will further utilize the capabilities of the Xi'an Land Port, Lianyungang Logistics Base, and Dongdamen Dry Port to explore the potential of their transit transport capacities, Wang said.

He said both parties believe that the China-Kazakhstan people-to-people and cultural cooperation is significant and promising. Currently, over 10,000 Kazakh students are studying in China, and Kazakhstan's universities have attracted over 1,000 Chinese students to study there. Kazakhstan has established five Confucius Institutes, and China has five institutions offering Kazakh language courses. Last November, China and Kazakhstan implemented mutual visa exemptions, and this year's "Kazakhstan Tourism Year" in China was a success. A total of 26 pairs of sister provinces and cities have been established between the two countries.

The two sides will utilize platforms such as the Luban Workshop, Confucius Institutes, and the Northwestern Polytechnical University campus in Kazakhstan to accelerate the establishment of cultural centers, encourage more sister province and city relationships, deepen exchanges in think tanks, media, arts, and continuously enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the peoples, Wang said.

Both sides praised the success of the China-Central Asia Summit in Xi'an, which has ushered in a new phase of enhanced cooperation between China and Central Asia.

The Chinese side is eager to work alongside other Central Asian nations to strengthen and optimize the China-Central Asia cooperation mechanism, aiming to build a stable, prosperous, harmonious, and interconnected Central Asia, thereby injecting strong vitality into the building of a China-Central Asia community of shared future, Wang said.

Both sides emphasized the need to steadfastly uphold the UN-centered international system and the international order based on international law as the global situation is witnessing profound changes and chaos.

They will work to advance the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative, unequivocally oppose unilateralism and hegemonic behaviors, and promote the development of global governance towards a more just and reasonable direction.

Wang stressed that China highly appreciates Kazakhstan's role as the rotating chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). He expressed the belief that the foreign ministers' meeting will be successful and lay a solid foundation for the upcoming SCO summit.