Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Kazakhstan on first trip abroad since pandemic began
- China’s leader will also travel to Uzbekistan for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit
- He is expected to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the SCO talks
A video released by the Kazakh presidential press office showed Xi being welcomed by an honour guard and received by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev after his charter plane touched down at the Nursultan Nazarbayev Airport in Kazakhstan’s capital Nur-Sultan. Xi was individually greeted by Tokayev and other Kazakh officials. China’s first lady Peng Liyuan was not seen alongside Xi.
According to Xinhua, Xi’s entourage included Ding Xuexiang, one of his senior aides, foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and He Lifeng, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planning agency.
All those involved in the reception, including Xi and Tokayev, were shown wearing masks in the video.
According to a press statement from Kazakhstan’s presidential office, Tokayev and Xi held a meeting on Wednesday afternoon during which the two sides discussed “cooperation in the transport, logistics and agro-industrial sectors, and also considered the issue of using transboundary water resources”.
An earlier statement said the two were expected to sign bilateral agreements after discussing “prospects for strengthening the Kazakh-Chinese comprehensive strategic partnership”.
