CRI听力:China, Kazakhstan Sign Deals to Expand Cooperation

China and Kazakhstan have signed deals ranging from nuclear energy to infrastructure construction, as the two countries move to expand their cooperation beyond oil and gas development.

For more details, here's CRI's Qi Zhi.

The deals, reportedly worth more than 14 billion US dollars, were inked during Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Astana, where he will also attend a prime ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

On Sunday, the premier held separate talks with President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Prime Minister Karim Masimov, and attended a meeting of China and Kazakh business leaders.

Li Keqiang stressed that bilateral cooperation will not only focus on the energy sector, but also in other fields such as equipment manufacturing, agriculture, and deep processing of resources.

Details of the deals have not yet been revealed, but a Xinhua report says the two sides will upgrade a joint venture logistics base and enhance connectivity with highways, railways, ports, air routes, and oil and gas pipelines.

The countries also agreed to tap into the potential of hi-tech cooperation and further advance aerospace cooperation.

An investment fund of about 500 million dollars was set up to finance the projects, and the nations agreed to expand their currency swap deal to reduce the costs of trade.

China has also promised to open more fields to Kazakh investors, the first time that it has done so with a Eurasian country.

The deals secured with Kazakhstan, which is Central Asia's largest economy, are seen as another step forward in China's efforts to revive the ancient transcontinental Silk Road.

Kazakhstan is Premier Li's first stop on his three-nation tour, which will also take him to Serbia and Thailand.

For CRI, I'm Qi Zhi.