BEIJING, Sept. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has attended the founding ceremony of the China-Kazakhstan Entrepreneurs Committee in Astana, together with his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev. The committee is the first bilateral business cooperation mechanism to be set up between China and a Central Asian country.

Speaking at the ceremony, President Xi said he’s looking forward to the committee bringing more cooperation between the two sides in areas of agriculture, high-tech, and new energy.

Nazarbayev spoke of extending cooperation with China and a "revival" of the ancient Silk Road trade route.

The Chinese President also met with Kazakh Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov on Saturday. They discussed the expansion of the China-Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline and construction of the China-Central Asia gas pipeline.

Akhmetov says Kazakhstan will continue to target a two-way trade figure of 40 billion U.S. dollars for 2015.

Xi Jinping also met the speaker of the Kazakh Parliament’s Lower House, Nurlan Nigmatulin, to discuss legislative cooperation.

(Source: CNTV.cn)