Kazakhstan and China have agreed on closer cooperation at the parliamentary level, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the All-China Assembly of People's Representatives Wu Bango, who is staying in Astana on an official visit, told journalists on the results of a meeting with Chairman of the Senate (the upper chamber) of the Kazakh parliament Kairat Mami, Itar-Tass reported.
"We agreed to further strengthen our cooperation and interaction and we are sure that inter-parliamentary ties with Kazakhstan will certainly give a greater impetus to our relations," Wu Bango said.
He noted that today relations between Kazakhstan and China "have reached an unprecedentedly high level." "It concerns political interaction and mutually advantageous cooperation, as well as close interaction of the two countries on the world arena," Wu Bango specified.
He stressed that the development of relations between Kazakhstan and China "was always one of the most prioritized directions of the foreign policy." "We are resolutely inclined to further develop cooperation between our parliaments at different levels, including exchange experience of governing the state, building modern legal, democratic society in our country," Wu Bango said.
For his part, speaker of the Senate of the Kazakh parliament noted that this is the first visit of the head of the Standing Committee of the All-China Assembly of People's Representatives to Kazakhstan. "We consider it as a new landmark in our relations, Kairat Mami stressed.
According to him, today, when the two countries' strategic partnership "reached such a high level," the role of a parliamentary dialogue is "especially important." "An inter-parliamentary dialogue may serve as an important bridge for strengthening friendship and developing mutually advantageous interests between our countries," the chairman of the Senate said.
According to him, the talks with the Chinese counterpart were devoted to urgent issues on a wide range of bilateral cooperation. "We agreed to intensify contacts both at the level of the apparatus and profile committees of our parliaments and make them regular," Kairat Mami said.
Wu Bango will stay in Kazakhstan until September 28. He is to hold talks with President of the republic Nursultan Nazarbayev and representatives of business circles.