N. Nazarbayev's visit to China to affirm Astana-Beijing strategic partnership
During the visit, the Kazakh leader is scheduled to hold talks with China's President Hu Jintao, meet the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Wu Bangguo and Premier of the State Council of China Wen Jiabao, as well as visit the city of Tianjin.
A number of bilateral documents are to be signed, covering security cooperation, control of waters quality, and implementation of infrastructure development projects in Kazakhstan.
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1992, the development of good neighbourly and friendly relations with China has always been one of Kazakhstan's foreign policy priorities.
In July 2005, the two countries adopted a Joint Declaration on the establishment and development of strategic partnership, which marked the transition of bilateral relations to a new stage of development.
Intensive contacts between the leaders of both countries play an important role in the development of bilateral relations and indicate the attention paid by Astana and Beijing to their versatile collaboration.
From December 2009 to June 2010, in just half a year, President Hu Jintao visited Kazakhstan twice. As for President Nazarbayev, the upcoming event will be his 17th visit to China. In addition, other senior officials of both countries have repeatedly exchanged visits.
During Nazarbayev's visit to China on April 15-19 in 2009, the established relationships between the two countries were strengthened and expanded. The visit was also combined with attendance at the annual conference of Boao Forum for Asia.
On February 22-24, 2010, Kazakhstan's Secretary of State Minister of Foreign Affairs Kanat Saudabayev's visit to China was of notable importance because of the substantive discussions that took place in terms of the status and prospects of bilateral cooperation. Saudabayev held talks with Premier Wen Jiabao, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, met with executives of major companies working in Kazakhstan, as well as delivered speech at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
President Hu Jintao's state visit to Kazakhstan on June 11-12, 2010, gave an important impetus to the Kazakh-Chinese relations. As part of that visit, the heads of state discussed bilateral issues and topical matters of regional and international security. Moreover, the leaders signed a package of intergovernmental and interdepartmental agreements on cooperation in areas such as energy and non-commodity sectors, the press service of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry reports.
The latest in recent exchange, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi's visit to Kazakhstan on December 27-29, 2010, also contributed to the development of relations between the two countries. Yang Jiechi met with Nursultan Nazarbayev, Prime Minister Karim Massimov, and other senior Kazakh officials. His meeting with Kanat Saudabayev resulted in a Memorandum on cooperation between the Foreign Ministries of Kazakhstan and China for 2011-13.
Also, the coordinating role of the Cooperation Committee established in 2004 is getting stronger. The sides continue to work on the development of a regulatory basis for cooperation in the use and protection of trans-border rivers. One of the important outcomes of Nazarbayev's visit to China in December 2006 was the signing of agreements on the mutual exchange of hydrological and hydrochemical information and development of scientific work on trans-border rivers.
Cooperation in security and military fields is carried out through regular contacts of special service and law enforcement agencies. Every year, a number of Kazakhstan's officers undergo training courses in the best military schools of the People's Liberation Army of China. A protocol on the provision of military assistance exists between the defence ministries of Kazakhstan and China.
In addition, there is an active collaboration between Kazakhstan's Parliament and National People's Congress of China, and there are respective groups of inter-parliamentary cooperation.
On the back of favourable political cooperation, the Kazakhstan-China trade and economic partnership is also strengthening. China is second (after the EU) in the list of Kazakhstan's trade partners. China's share in Kazakhstan's foreign trade exceeds 17 percent. Kazakhstan is China's second (after Russia) trading partner in the post-Soviet realm. According to Kazakh statistics, in 2009 the trade turnover amounted to US$ 9.5 billion and in 2010 it equalled to US$ 14.1 billion.