Chinese president meets with Kyrgyz counterpart on ties

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Kyrgyz counterpart Almazbek Atambaev met in Bishket on Wednesday and exchanged views on deepening China-Kyrgyzstan relations and pushing forward mutually-beneficial cooperation. [Special Report]

After their talks, the two leaders are expected to sign and publish important documents, preside over the signing of a series of cooperation deals and attend a joint press conference.

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1992, China-Kyrgyzstan relations have witnessed fast, healthy and steady growth. The two countries maintain close high-level contact, enjoy increasing political mutual trust, and have achieved fruitful results from their broadening cooperation in energy, transportation, security and people-to-people exchanges.

China is now Kyrgyzstan's second largest trading partner. Two-way trade reached 2.23 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of this year, gaining 3.9 percent year-on-year.

The Chinese president arrived here late Tuesday for his first state visit to the Central Asian country, where he will also attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.

Kyrgyzstan is the last stop of his ongoing overseas trip, which had taken him to Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. He also attended a Group of 20 summit on Sept. 5-6 in the Russian city of St. Petersburg.