Tokayev meets Communist Party secretary of Xinjiang Ma Xingrui
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held a meeting with Ma Xingrui, the Secretary of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), discussing the current issues of regional cooperation, Kazinform Agency cites Akorda.
President Tokayev commended the results of the cooperation between Kazakhstan and Xinjiang in many areas, including trade, industry, transport, logistics, agriculture and tourism.
Mechanisms of regional cooperation is of great importance in mutual trade between Kazakhstan and Xinjiang, once used well could move us forward. Kazakhstan is ready to increase supplies of different products to your region, including metallurgical, petrochemical, machinery, food products as well as construction materials. As for the potential of cooperation, we believe there is a huge potential and that Kazakhstan could become a stable supplier of environmentally friendly agricultural products to the Chinese market, said Tokayev.
As the Kazakhstan President noted Xinjiang accounts for 40 percent of the total trade of Kazakhstan and China, rising by 87 percent to $8.5bn in six months of this year.
For his part, Ma Xingrui pointed out the importance of realising the agreements reached during the talks between the Kazakh President and Chinese Chairman as well as stressed the importance of the initiatives put forward during the One Belt, One Road forum.
We will further deepen our trade and economic cooperation focusing on such areas as agriculture, trans-border trade and energy as well as establish interaction between our scientific institutions, universities, encourage joint enterprises to invest and open businesses in Kazakhstan and Xinjiang, he said.
The XUAR Secretary called the visit of the Kazakh leader to Xinjiang historic and confirmed that the XUAR leadership will maintain ties and expand cooperation with Kazakhstan.
Earlier it was reported that Kazakh Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had landed in Ürümqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, as part of his official visit to China.
