Conference call highlights unity

President Xi Jinping and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev attended a video conference call ceremony on Thursday to mark the two nations' practical cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative.

During the ceremony at the China pavilion at the Astana Expo 2017, the two leaders watched the realtime video of the Lianyungang seaport in East China and the Horgos port in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Xi said in a speech at the ceremony that Kazakhstan has developed from a traditional inland country into a key transportation hub in the heart of Eurasia and plays an important role in connecting trade between Asia and the West.

The China-Kazakhstan cross-border transportation cooperation will contribute more to regional development, Xi said, adding that the two sides should make joint efforts to build the project into a model for the Belt and Road Initiative.