Chinese president en route to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan

Chinese President Hu Jintao left Beijing Saturday for a three-day official visit to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, dpa reported.

   Hu is scheduled to attend the inauguration of a Central Asian gas pipeline, and hold formal talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

   The 1,833-kilometre gas project, which began construction in 2007, is the country's first transnational pipeline. It runs from the border between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, passing through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan before reaching China, the agency said.

   "The pipeline will be commissioned on December 14. Starting from that, Turkmenistan will annually supply China with 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas for the next 30 years," Berdimuhamedov was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.