BEIJING, Sept. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived for a state visit to Turkmenistan. It is the first leg of his Central Asia tour. During the two-day visit, Xi is expected to hold talks with his Turkmen counterpart, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.China and Turkmenistan forged their diplomatic ties in 1992. China has since become Turkmenistan’s largest trade partner while Turkmenistan is now a key supplier of natural gas to China.
The two operate one of the longest natural gas pipelines in the world, measuring more than 8,000 kilometers. After his visit to Turkmenistan,
Xi will travel to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The Chinese president will also attend the eighth summit of the Group of Twenty in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the 13th meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
(Source: cntv.cn)
