Chinese President Hu Jintao's upcoming visit to Kazakhstan would further boost political mutual trust and pragmatic cooperation between the two countries, Chinese ambassador to Kazakhstan Cheng Guoping said in a recent interview.

President Hu will visit Kazakhstan from Dec. 12 to 13 at the invitation of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

China-Kazakhstan relations had seen deepening mutually beneficial cooperation in politics, the economy, security and culture since diplomatic ties were established 17 years ago, Cheng told Xinhua and other media in a joint interview.

The two countries staunchly support each other on issues concerning their core interests, he said, noting that Hu's visit on the eve of the 18th anniversary of Kazakhstan's independence illustrated how highly China valued bilateral ties, Cheng said.

Economic and trade cooperation had been fruitful, he said, adding that the people of both countries had benefited from the relationship.

He pointed to a series of major cooperation projects now being implemented, adding that cooperation enjoyed great potential, particularly in agriculture, science and technology, communications, health care and automobile manufacturing.

In security cooperation, China and Kazakhstan had established mechanisms within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to combat the common threats of terrorism, extremism and separatism, Cheng said.

He said Kazakhstan firmly supported China's fight against the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement," a terrorist group on the sanction list of the UN Security Council committee.

Kazakhstan showed understanding and supported China's measures to safeguard stability of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region after the July 5 riot in Urumqi, capital of the northwestern region of China, he said.

As bilateral ties continued to deepen, the two countries shared a bright future in developing cultural cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, which would be conducive to enhancing understanding and friendship between the two nations and promoting their strategic partnership, Cheng added.