On December 15, 2019 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi of Kazakhstan on the sidelines of the Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the Asia-Europe Meeting in Madrid.

Wang Yi expressed, this year is a harvest one for China-Kazakhstan relations. First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev attended the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing in April. President Xi Jinping awarded the Friendship Medal, the highest state honor of China, to him. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev paid a state visit to China in September this year, and the two heads of state decided to lift the bilateral relationship to the permanent comprehensive strategic partnership. Under the high-level strategic guidance, mutual trust between China and Kazakhstan has reached a new height, and bilateral relations have set new targets. The Chinese side is willing to maintain high-level exchanges with the Kazakh side, continue to take a lead in jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, and steadily advance cooperation in production capacity. The Chinese side fully supports the Kazakh side in assuming the chair of the next round of the Conference on International and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and stands ready to work with the Kazakh side to promote the in-depth and practical development of the CICA so as to safeguard regional security and stability. Wang Yi pointed out, in response to external forces' attempts to drive a wedge between our two countries and smear our cooperation, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has resolutely denounced the groundless accusations and elaborated the Kazakh side's correct stance on issues concerning China's Xinjiang in a recent interview. The two sides should continue to support each other, and provide reliable support for each other's stability and development.

Mukhtar Tleuberdi said, Kazakhstan and China have enjoyed a long history of friendship, and the close friendship between the two heads of state has made important contributions to the development of bilateral relations. No problems exist between Kazakhstan and China, and the two countries always understand and support each other on issues of mutual concern. The Kazakh side supports the Chinese side's positions and measures on issues concerning Xinjiang. The Kazakh side hopes to continue to maintain high-level exchanges with the Chinese side, and advance mutually beneficial cooperation, especially in production capacity. More Chinese companies are welcome to invest and start business in Kazakhstan. The Kazakh side attaches great importance to and actively takes part in jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, and hopes to become a key passageway linking China and Europe. The Kazakh side also hopes to strengthen coordination and cooperation with the Chinese side within multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the CICA.