AKIPRESS.COM - Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China is ready to work with Kazakhstan to push forward bilateral cooperation in all fields.

In a telephone conversation, Wang congratulated Mukhtar Tleuberdi on his appointment as Kazakhstan's deputy prime minister and foreign minister, and congratulated Kazakhstan on its 30th anniversary of independence. Wang also expected Kazakhstan to make great stride over the next 30 golden years, Xinhua reports.

Wang said that the strategic guidance of the two countries' heads of state is the fundamental guarantee for the development of China-Kazakhstan relations.

In the past year, China and Kazakhstan have joined hands in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak, and helped each other, said Wang, adding that bilateral ties saw a high-level development despite difficulties.

He noted that the two-way trade maintained a good momentum, and China-Europe freight train trips and freight volume rose against all odds, becoming the "steel camel fleets" running across Eurasia. 

China supports Kazakhstan to play a more important role within the frameworks of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and CICA (the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia), and make greater contributions to regional peace and development, said Wang. 

Tleuberdi said Kazakhstan will remain determined to develop its ties with China, and will take the opportunity of the 30th anniversary of Kazakhstan's independence and the 30th anniversary of bilateral ties to plan high-level exchanges with China, push forward mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields and take bilateral relations to a new level.

He also said that mutual support on international and regional issues is the mainline and core of the Kazakhstan-China permanent comprehensive strategic partnership.

Kazakhstan abides by the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and believes that issues regarding Xinjiang and Hong Kong are purely China's internal affairs, he said, adding that Kazakhstan is willing to further strengthen cooperation with China within the frameworks of the SCO and CICA to jointly safeguard regional security and stability.