Chinese President Jiang Zemin arrived in Alma-Ata Monday to attend the first summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) scheduled for Tuesday.
Upon his arrival, Jiang was greeted at the airport by State-Secretary and Minister of Foreign Affairs Kasymzhomart Tokayev, Vice Prime Minister Karim Masimov and other senior Kazakh officials.
Jiang is expected to meet separately with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee tonight on the sideline of the summit, Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan confirmed Monday.
"China sincerely hopes that Pakistan and India practice restraint and solve their disputes through peaceful negotiation and dialogue for the maintenance of peace and stability in South Asia," Kong said, adding that China's attitude towards reducing tensions between Pakistan and India is clear-cut.
The spokesman said the international community, including China, hopes to see Pakistan-India tensions ease up, which is in the interests of both nations.
The Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures -- the brainchild of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev -- was suggested at the United Nations General Assembly in October 1992.
CICA, a forum aimed at increasing security in Asia, was first proposed by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev at the 47th UN General Assembly in 1992 and its 16 members include China, Russia,Egypt, Afghanistan, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, India and Palestine.
Four international organizations including the UN, the League of Arab States and the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as 11 countries including the United States, have observer status at this conference.
After the conference the Chinese president will fly to the Russian city of St. Petersburg to attend the second summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Jiang's half-month-long tour will also take him to Latvia, Estonia, Iceland and Lithuania for state visits.
(People's Daily June 4, 2002)
