NAIROBI -- The relationship between China and Kenya has displayed a consistent trend of healthy and stable development in recent years, and Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Kenya on April 27-29 will further boost their bilateral ties.

The relations between China and Kenya have been progressing constantly since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1963.

Following China's adoption of its reform and opening-up policy in 1978, the ties between the countries became increasingly intimate and they had more high level visit exchanges.

Chinese leaders who have visited Kenya include former President Jiang Zemin, former premiers Li Peng and Zhu Rongji and the incumbent top legislator, Wu Bangguo, while Kenya's ex-President Daniel Arap Moi has paid three visits to China.

The exchange of visits between the two countries' top leaders has added tremendous momentum to the development of relations between the two countries.

President Hu held talks in Beijing with visiting Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki last August. The two leaders spoke positively of the achievements in the development of their bilateral ties and pledged to make concerted efforts to inject fresh vitality into their relations.

The visit, the first by a Kenyan head of state to China in 11 years, held great significance in further pushing forward their bilateral friendly relations.

Hu's current visit to the African country, the first visit by a Chinese head of state to Kenya in 10 years, also has a great historic significance and will surely broaden and deepen the China-Kenya links.

China and Kenya have signed a total of 12 bilateral accords over the past two years, which have covered a variety of fields including economy, technology, energy, tourism, health, aviation, the press, archeology and education.

Trade between China and Kenya is growing rapidly. According to Chinese Customs statistics, bilateral trade topped 475 million U.S. dollars in 2005, a 29.7 percent increase compared with a year earlier.

Their cooperation in tourism has also made great strides in recent years, and the number of Chinese tourists visiting Kenya has continued to increase. A total of 11,000 Chinese tourists visited Kenya in 2005, after China had made Kenya one of its tourist destinations in 2004.

With their ever-expanding relations, for Kenya, China has become a key country as it strives to implement its "eastward-looking" strategy.

Kenyan Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju accompanied President Kibaki on his visit to China last August. He told the Kenyan media after the visit that its "eastward-looking" strategy was not a policy to be debated, rather, it was a pragmatic and fundamental decision that Kenya must make.