Chinese President Xi Jinping will on Wednesday start a four-day state visit to Kazakhstan, his third visit to the central Asian country, at the invitation of his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev.[Special coverage]
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic ties between China and Kazakhstan. Against this backdrop, Xi's visit is widely expected to further advance the bilateral relations and enhance the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.
BROAD PROSPECTS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF BILATERAL TIES
The relations between China and Kazakhstan have been developing steadily and substantially over the past 25 years. With a solid foundation for joint development and a goal to combine mutual interests, the two are expected to chart the course for the further development of bilateral ties during Xi's upcoming visit.
"China-Kazakhstan relations are built on the basis of reciprocity and mutual understanding. There are no pending issues between the two countries, and the future development of their bilateral ties enjoys broad prospects," Ruslam Izimov, head of the Eurasian Studies Program at the Institute of World Economy and Politics, told Xinhua.
From previous fruitful achievements of bilateral cooperation, experts are convinced that Xi's upcoming visit will once again greatly promote the China-Kazakhstan partnership.
Top leaders of China and Kazakhstan have been in close contact over recent years, broadening and deepening bilateral relations and cooperation to a great extent.
In September 2013, Xi paid his first state visit to Kazakhstan, during which the two countries signed a joint declaration on a new stage of comprehensive strategic partnership. It was also during this visit that Xi put forward the initiative of building the Silk Road Economic Belt for the first time.
The visit by Xi also set the tone for the development of bilateral ties in the past years.
"The general direction of the two countries' national development was determined during President Xi's visit to Kazakhstan in 2013, namely, the joint building of the Silk Road Economic Belt," Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan Zhang Hanhui said.
The initiative proposed by Xi was warmly supported by Kazakhstan. A year later, Nazarbayev, the Kazakh president, introduced his new economic plan known as "Bright Path," which also lays emphasis on investment in infrastructure and priority sectors.
In Xi's second visit in May 2015, the two countries pledged to further align their development strategies in the pursuit of common prosperity.
"The relationship between China and Kazakhstan concerns common development of the two countries as well as regional peace and stability. Therefore, the two sides should implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, and promote bilateral cooperation in line with predetermined paths for the benefit of the peoples," Zhang said.
During the upcoming visit, Xi will also attend the 17th meeting of Heads of State Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the opening ceremony of the World Expo in Astana.
In May 2014, Nazarbayev paid a state visit to China, during which he and Xi agreed to promote bilateral cooperation in a wide range of fields as well as strengthen cultural and people-to-people exchanges.
