On the noon of September 1, 2011, Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang met in Urumqi with Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva and Azerbaijan's Vice Prime Minister Abid Sharifov, respectively, extending welcome for them to attend the first China-Eurasia Expo.
During the meeting with Otunbayeva, Li first conveyed the cordial greetings and best wishes from President Hu Jintao to Otunbayeva. He said since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1992, China-Kyrgyzstan relations have been developing smoothly with deepening mutual political trust and expanding cooperation in all areas. The two countries, with geographic proximity, have huge cooperation potential in fields such as trade, economy and infrastructure. China always regards Kyrgyzstan as a good neighbor, good friend and good partner, Li said, noting that China is ready to work with Kyrgyzstan to further improve trade and investment conditions and well implement previously agreed cooperation projects by taking the opportunities of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries and the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation next year. He also called for cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and China's western regions, particularly the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, as well as enhanced humanities exchanges and people-to-people contacts so as to push bilateral ties to new levels.
Otunbayeva expressed her gratitude for the greetings and wishes extended by President Hu and spoke highly of the precious aid China has offered, pledging that Kyrgyzstan will continue developing friendly relations with China and deepen cooperation to achieve win-win outcome.
The two leaders also witnessed the signing of bilateral economic and technological cooperation agreement after the meeting.
In his meeting with Sharifov, Li said bilateral relations have always been developing in a sound and stable manner and achieved fruitful results since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1992. He praised the effective coordination that China and Azerbaijan have conducted in the United Nations and other multilateral occasions, which helped safeguard common interests of both sides. China attaches great importance to relations with Azerbaijan, Li said, adding that China regards Azerbaijan as its reliable friend and sincere cooperation partner and is willing to lift bilateral relations to a new height based on the existing basis. He also urged the two nations to seize the opportunities of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of China-Azerbaijan diplomatic relations next year, actively explore new cooperation areas and ways, enhance the scale and level of bilateral cooperation and adhere to mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit in a bid to push bilateral ties to a new level.
Sharifov said Azerbaijan also highly values its comprehensive and cooperative relations with China, expressing his hope that the two nations could further increase high-level exchanges with an aim to lay a solid foundation for furthering the development of Azerbaijan-China relations.
Minister of Commerce Chen Deming, Secretary of CPC Xinjiang Committee Zhang Chunxian, Deputy Secretary-General of the State Council You Quan, Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun and other officials attended the meeting.