Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived?in Astana?Friday evening for a two-day state visit to Kazakhstan.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (R Front) shakes hands with Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov upon his arrival in Astana for a state visit to Kazakhstan, on June 11, 2010. [Lan Hongguang/Xinhua]

Hu said in a statement released upon arrival at the airport that, with the effort of both sides, his visit would be a total success and help advance the strategic partnership between China and Kazakhstan to a new stage.

 

During the visit, Hu will hold talks with his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev and meet with parliament and government leaders.

The two sides will outline the future development of bilateral links. They will decide on the key tasks and areas of bilateral cooperation in the next stage and exchange views on major international and regional issues of common concern.

During Hu's visit, the two sides will sign a number of agreements on trade and economic cooperation.

In recent years, the China-Kazakhstan strategic partnership has developed rapidly as frequent high-level exchanges helped deepen political mutual trust.

Hu said in the statement that China and Kazakhstan shared a long history of friendly relations at both government and grassroots levels.

He said, since the two countries established diplomatic links 18 years ago, bilateral relations had maintained a momentum of vigorous growth. Bilateral cooperation in the areas of politics, economy, trade, energy, security and culture had been fruitful.

Hu said the two countries stood firm in reciprocal support on major and sensitive issues of each other's concern, adding the two sides had cooperated closely within multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia.

Hu said the cooperation had brought about substantial benefits to the people of both countries and played a positive role in promoting regional peace, stability and development.

Hu was greeted at the airport by Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov and other government officials.

Before arriving in Astana, Hu paid a state visit to Uzbekistan and attended an annual SCO summit in Tashkent.

Kazakhstan is the final leg of Hu's two-nation Central Asia trip. He returns home Saturday.