At the invitation of Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Nazarbayev will pay a state visit to China from December 22 to 25.

Karibzhanov told Xinhua that the friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation had entered a higher phase since the neighbors established full diplomatic relations 11 years ago, and political, economic, military and cultural exchanges had deepened.

According to the Chinese General Administration of Customs, bilateral trade in the first 10 months of 2002 reached US$1.5 billion, increasing 38 percent on a year-on-year basis.

Karibzhanov said Kazakhstan had become China's second largest trade partner in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

It was of historical significance that the two countries had resolved the border issue and signed a treaty on using and protecting cross-border rivers, he said.

He said the two countries were negotiating a free trade zone in the border area and this would increase bilateral trade.

In order to maintain the growth of trade, the two sides should explore new economic fields and strengthen investment cooperation, Karibzhanov said.

Oil, gas and cross-border transportation played an important role in economic and trade relations, he said, and cooperation in these fields had bright prospects.

He said Chinese enterprises were welcome to invest in the fields of high technology, construction, oil and gas exploration, agriculture and services.

Karibzhanov said his country highly valued China's support for the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia sponsored by Kazakhstan.

He said Kazakhstan attached great importance to close cooperation with China in the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and he was convinced such cooperation with China and other countries was helpful to Asian and global security, peace and stability.

(Xinhua News Agency December 21, 2002)