On January 9, 2012, Chen Zhili, special envoy of Chinese President Hu Jintao and vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), met with Kazakh Senate Speaker Kairat Mami in Astana.

Chen first conveyed the cordial greetings and good wishes from Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress. Chen Zhili said, since China and Kazakhstan established diplomatic ties 20 years ago, bilateral relations have maintained a momentum of sound and rapid development under the care and promotion of the leaders of the two countries. In June 2011, Hu and his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev, announced China and Kazakhstan would develop a comprehensive strategic partnership, which brought bilateral relations to a new phase of all-round development, Chen said. China would work with Kazakhstan to advance bilateral relations through implementing the important consensus reached by the two leaders, deepening win-win cooperation, broadening people-to-people and cultural exchanges and enhancing strategic coordination in international and regional affairs, Chen said.

Mami first asked Chen to convey his high esteem and good wishes to Chairman Wu. He said that, after 20 years of development, Kazakhstan-China relations have reached a level of comprehensive strategic coordination. Last year, NPC Standing Committee Chairman Wu Bangguo visited Kazakhstan, which led to broader inter-parliamentary cooperation and injected impetus into the development of bilateral relations, Mami said. Economic and trade cooperation has great significance for bilateral ties, Mami said, stressing that Kazakhstan is willing to enhance cooperation with China in investment and processing. Mami also briefed on the upcoming elections of the lower house of the Kazakh parliament.

The two sides also exchanged views on the development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as well as legislature and humanities exchanges.

Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan Zhou Li and Assistant Foreign Minister Le Yucheng were present at the meeting.