Linking of Chinese, Eurasian initiatives gets boost

Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Kazakhstan, which concluded on Friday, will boost relations as well as the coordination between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union, experts said.

Yang Cheng, deputy director of the Center for Russian Studies at East China Normal University in Shanghai, said Kazakhstan is an important country on the Silk Road Economic Belt - indeed, President Xi Jinping first announced the initiative in its capital, Astana, in 2013. The Central Asian country is looking forward to further cooperation with China.

Shakhrat Nuryshev, Kazakhstan's ambassador to China, said that China was the first country to recognize the independence of Kazakhstan and established diplomatic relations with the former Soviet republic in 1992.