Foreign and Military Affairs

Hu wraps up Central Asia state visits

By Wu Jiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-14 08:19

ASTANA, KaZAKHSTAN - China and Kazakhstan have signed contracts on civil nuclear energy and a second natural gas pipeline as Chinese President Hu Jintao completed his second visit to the Central Asian neighbor within six months.

In December Hu traveled to the Central Asian countries to inaugurate, together with his regional counterparts, the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline that supplies Central Asian natural gas to China to sustain its rapid economic growth.

Kazakhstan, rich in natural resources, is set to surpass Canada and Australia to become world's biggest uranium producer in 2010, according to its national plan.

The two countries pledged to further strengthen cooperation in trade and economy in a join communique issued on Saturday.

Trade volume between Kazakhstan and China reached $17.5 billion in 2008 and slipped to $14 billion in 2009 due to the international financial crisis. But bilateral trade staged a strong recovery in the first quarter this year.

The two leaders agreed to continue to implement a cooperation agreement in non-resource spheres signed in August 2007 and continue to enhance bilateral cooperation in machine-building, transport infrastructure, power plant construction, petrochemical, processing and pharmaceutical industries, as well as other fields.

The two countries will strengthen credit cooperation to ensure the implementation of these projects, the communique said.

The two sides also agreed to fully tap the potential of cross-border railway, road and air transport cooperation. Kazakhstan welcomed the involvement of Chinese companies in the construction of the transit corridor.

Hu said China would actively participate in joint anti-terror military exercises by members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Kazakhstan this year. China would step up security cooperation with Kazakhstan on the international occasions of the Shanghai World Expo, the Asian Games in Guangzhou and the Winter Asian Games in Almaty.

Hu flew into Astana on Friday from the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, where he paid a state visit and attended a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.