Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev held talks in Beijing Monday, signing a good-neighborly treaty of friendship and cooperation to set the direction for the two countries working together.

During the talks, Jiang spoke highly of the good cooperation between the two countries since they established diplomatic relations 10 years ago, to which Nazarbayev agreed.

Jiang made a four-point proposal for promoting China-Kazakhstan ties, which mainly focuses on establishing a lasting friendship between the two countries and the China-Kazakhstan Good-Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation which serves this purpose.

He also urged broader bilateral cooperation and mutual trust, optimizing bilateral trade, strengthening cooperation in energy, providing more preferential conditions for investors from both sides and promoting cultural exchanges.

While extending appreciation for Kazakhstan's understanding and support in the fight against "East Turkistan" terrorist forces, Jiang said China hoped to work with Kazakhstan to widen cooperation in combating terrorism, extremism and separatism.

Jiang also hailed the significance of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, adding that the SCO had made marked progress in improving the cooperation mechanism among its members and had exerted increasing international influence this year.

He said it was of vital significance to give full play to the role of the SCO in safeguarding the common interests of its members in the current situation. He urged a SCO secretariat and anti-terrorism body be set up as soon as possible to for substantial progress in boosting security and economic cooperation among members.

Nazarbayev praised the political and economic cooperation between his country and China in fighting terrorism and under the framework of the SCO.

He reiterated that Kazakhstan adhered to the one-China policy and would not have official contact with the Taiwanese authorities.

He said Kazakhstan resolutely opposed terrorism, separatism and extremism, particularly the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces, to safeguard the lasting peace and stability in the region.

After the talks, the two presidents signed the China-Kazakhstan Good-Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation and attended a ceremony where four other agreements relating to fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism, preventing dangerous military activities and other fields were signed.

Nazarbayev arrived in Beijing Sunday for a four-day state visit as guest of Jiang.

(Xinhua News Agency December 24, 2002)