Backgrounder: Basic facts about Republic of Kazakhstan

Chinese President Hu Jintao left here Saturday morning for working visits to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. The following is some basic information about Kazakhstan:

Kazakhstan lies in Central Asia, bordering Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. The country has an area of 2.72 million square km, with Astana as its capital.

Kazakhstan has 131 nationalities including Kazakh, Russian, Ukrainian, Uzbek and Tatar. It has a population of 15.81 million, of whom 58.6 percent are Kazakhs.

The country's state language is Kazakh, while Russian is the second official language.

Kazakhstan has rich mineral resources, with zinc and tungsten deposits ranking first in the world and uranium the second.

Oil and gas are also important natural resources in Kazakhstan, with proven reserves of oil and gas estimated at 4 billion tons and 3 trillion cubic meters respectively.

Mineral exploitation, processing and export play a leading role in the country's economy. In recent years, the Kazakh government has taken a series of measures to avoid the imbalance in the industrial structure and boost the diversification of the economy.

Kazakhstan established diplomatic relations with China in January 1992 and they forged a strategic partnership in July 2005.In recent years, bilateral ties have developed smoothly with frequent exchanges of high-level visits and the political mutual trust has been strengthened.

China is the second largest trade partner of Kazakhstan, and bilateral trade reached 17.55 billion dollars in 2008.

Source: Xinhua