On December 10, 2009, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya briefed on President Hu Jintao's upcoming working visit to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan at a press briefing given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Wang said at the invitation of President Nazarbayev of the Republic of Kazakhstan and President Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan, Chinese President Hu Jintao will pay a working visit to the above-mentioned two countries from December 12 to14, 2009. Hu's visit will be of great significance to further boosting China-Kazakhstan and China-Kazakhstan friendly ties and mutually beneficial cooperation and to safeguarding and promoting regional peace, stability and development.

Wang hailed the stable situation in Central Asia, applauding the ongoing political and economic reform, improved living standards and expanding external relations of those states, as well as substantial development of their national construction. "As a friendly neighbor and cooperative partner, China is glad to witness the remarkable achievements made by the Central Asian states, including Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, since their independence," Wang said.

China and Central Asian states enjoy geographical proximity and cultural affinity with profound traditional friendship and close personnel exchanges. To continuously consolidate and develop China's good-neighborly relations of friendly cooperation with Central Asian countries is a consistent policy of the Chinese government, and also conforms to common interests of people of China and Central Asian states. "China is ready to continue enhancing pragmatic cooperation in all areas with Central Asian states in the principle of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit and make unremitting efforts for peace, stability and development in the region," he said.

Wang said thanks to the joint efforts of both sides, there is a good momentum of fast and sound development in relations since China and Kazakhstan established diplomatic ties in 1992. In particular, the establishment of China-Kazakhstan strategic partnership in 2005 has charted a course and drawn up a blueprint for long-term development of bilateral ties. In recent years, China and Kazakhstan had maintained frequent high-level visits and deepened political mutual trust, he said. Both sides deem bilateral pragmatic cooperation as an important material foundation for developing their ties and have tapped geographical proximity, economic complementarity and other advantages, enhanced cooperation on economy, trade, investment, energy, transport and humanities, signed the China-Kazakhstan non-resources cooperation program and its implementation plan and pushed for positive progress of large cooperation projects, which contributed to both countries' economic and social common development and prosperity. Both sides have also worked together to fight against the “three forces” as well as narcotics trafficking and other transnational crimes, maintained sound cooperation within the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and other multilateral frameworks and made positive contributions to peace, stability and development of this region and the entire world. During his stay in Kazakhstan, President Hu will hold official talks with his Kazak counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev, exchanging in-depth views on bilateral ties as well as international and regional issues of common concern. President Hu's visit will inject new impetus into the development of China-Kazakhstan strategic partnership.

Wang hailed the smooth development of China-Turkmenistan relations, pointing to the expanding cooperation between the two countries in such fields as politics, trade, economy, energy, transportation, and culture. Both sides have shown mutual understanding and support in the UN and other international and regional organizations, making due contributions to promoting peace and stability of the two countries and the entire region. During his visit to Turkmenistan, President Hu will hold official talks with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, reviewing the achievements made in the development of bilateral cooperation and laying out the blueprint for bilateral ties and cooperation in the next phase. Both sides will also exchange views on international and regional issues of common concern. During the visit to Turkmenistan, Hu and his counterparts from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan will also attend a launching ceremony of the China-Central Asia gas pipeline. President Hu's visit will further consolidate the traditional friendship between both peoples, deepen political mutual trust and pragmatic cooperation between both countries and promote all-round, in-depth development of China-Turkmenistan friendly cooperative partnership.