Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev told visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing on Thursday that his country stands ready to further strengthen cooperation with China.

Nazarbayev spoke highly of the two countries' political and economic ties, noting the construction of the planned 3,000-km-long cross-border oil pipeline will boost trade between the two countries.

Nazarbayev reaffirmed Kazakhstan's commitment to the one-China policy, adding his government will strengthen cooperation with China to fight the "three evil forces" -- terrorism, separatism and religious extremism.

Li said China is keen to develop friendly cooperation with Kazakhstan and implement the strategic framework agreements on bilateral relations reached by the two heads of state.

Li arrived in the Central Asian country to attend a foreign ministers' meeting of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Alma Ata.

Hours after the meeting with Nazarbayev, Li met his Russian and Indian counterparts, Sergei Lavrov and Natwar Singh, and exchanged views on the fight against terrorism, Central Asia, Afghanistan and Iraq. They asked for a bigger role of the United Nations.

CICA, a forum aimed at increasing security in Asia, was first proposed by Nazarbayev at the 47th UN general assembly in 1992. Its 16 members include China, Russia, Egypt, Afghanistan, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, India and Palestine.

On Thursday, Thailand joined the body, becoming its 17th member.

(Xinhua News Agency October 22, 2004)