ASTANA, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislator Wu Bangguo and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Tuesday reached comprehensive consensus on issues of bilateral relations and pragmatic cooperation.
Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, said Nazarbayev, who has made long-term efforts in enhancing Chinese-Kazakh relations, is an old friend of the Chinese people.
Nazarbayev said Wu's visit against the backdrop of the 20th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations is an important one to further promote cooperation between the two countries.
Wu said the two countries have lifted bilateral relations to an all-round strategic partnership after the two presidents exchanged visits this year.
The aim of his visit, said Wu, is to implement the results of the earlier meetings of the two presidents and to further promote bilateral relations.
The two sides both agreed that practical cooperation is the material foundation and also the most dynamic part of bilateral relations.
On the future development of bilateral relations, Wu put forward a four-point proposal: creating a mechanism for regular meetings of the presidents as soon as possible and strengthening dialogues and coordination in macroeconomic policies; setting up specific plans and measures as soon as possible in order to realize the goal of lifting the bilateral trade volume to 40 billion U.S. dollars in 2015; deepening cooperation in strategic projects of energy, especially the project of the Chinese-Kazakh oil and gas pipelines and the project of Sino-Central Asian natural gas pipelines; enhancing cooperation in non-energy areas, especially in infrastructure construction.
Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan will be a most reliable friend of China at all times.
He said the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, founded in June 2001, has played an important role in maintaining regional peace and stability since its establishment. Kazakhstan highly appreciates China's efforts in promoting development of the organization, he added.
After the Astana Summit, China has taken over the rotating presidency of the SCO.
Kazakhstan is willing to coordinate with China in order to push for more results from the inter-organizational cooperation, said Nazarbayev.