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Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev ended a four-day visit to China, after signing a formal friendship treaty and receiving a pledge of economic aid.

The visit marked a year of summits and bilateral exchanges on co-ordinating anti-terrorist measures in Central Asia following last year's terrorist attacks in the United States.

It was also the first meeting between the Kazakh president and Hu Jintao, the new general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. Strengthening economic ties, China has pledged 10 million yuan (HK$9.43 million) in aid to Kazakhstan.

President Nazarbayev said the China-Kazakhstan Good-Neighbourly Treaty of Friendship signed on Monday created a framework for all areas of bilateral co-operation.

Unlike previous communiques expressing the intentions of seeking good relations, the treaty, which still has to be ratified by the parliaments of both countries, lays down a solid foundation for mutual trust and co-operation, he said.

The two countries settled territorial disputes and concluded an agreement on their 1,700km common border in May.

President Jiang Zemin assured the visiting Kazakh president that there would be no change in the commitment to strong bilateral ties as new leaders took the helm.

In separate meetings with other Chinese leaders, Mr Nazarbayev met Mr Hu, who told him that the goal set by the 16th Communist Party Congress was to double China's gross domestic product in 20 years and to establish a 'well-off' society for the Chinese people. He said Mr Hu came across as 'very experienced and very insightful'.

Premier Zhu Rongji expressed the wish that the two countries strengthen co-operation in the fields of energy and transportation.

China supports the building of a pipeline from western Kazakhstan to Xinjiang and China National Petroleum Corp has invested US$500 million (HK$3.9 billion), accounting for more than 60 per cent of Chinese investment in the country.

President Nazarbayev predicted that the bilateral trade could reach US$1.7 billion this year. For the first 10 months, the trade volume totalled US$1.5 billion, an increase of 38 per cent over the same period in 2001. Only a week ago, a Chinese company won the bid to supply US$400 million worth of internal combustion engines to Kazakhstan, he said.

Mr Nazarbayev's visit to Beijing came just after his visit to Moscow earlier this month.

In the summer, Kazakhstan hosted the first 16-nation summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, which included countries in conflicts such as India and Pakistan.

The conference, along with the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, should form the core of fighting separatism, extremism and terrorism in the region.



Kazakhstan friendship pact signed