Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang and Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Aset Isekeshev on Friday attended the launching ceremony of a trans-national free trade center on the border of China and Kazakhstan in Horgos of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Besides the China-Kazakhstan Horgos International Border Cooperation Center, the event also celebrated the joining of a China-Kazakhstan railway.

Addressing the ceremony, Zhang said the founding of the Horgos center and the converging of the Horgos-Ah Teng Corey railway were initiated by President Hu Jintao and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The two projects reflect the great attention paid by both leaders to bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperation as well as the intelligence and hard work of the two peoples, he said.

Zhang said the completion of the two projects will bring new development opportunities for friendly exchanges and pragmatic cooperation between China and Kazakhstan.

Isekeshev said Kazakhstan attaches great importance to the two projects, which are viewed as a great initiative of the two countries to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and boost friendly exchanges.

He hopes the two sides will further enhance cooperation in order to promote the prosperity and development of the two countries as well as the region. After the launching ceremony, Zhang and Isekeshev had a brief meeting.

Zhang said bilateral relations have witnessed rapid, healthy and stable development since the two countries forged diplomatic relations, featuring increased political mutual trust, fruitful cooperation in various fields and mutual support on major issues of each other's concern.

Kazakhstan will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its independence in mid-December, and Zhang expressed congratulations on Kazakhstan's achievements made under the lead of Nazarbayev.

Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, and Zhang called on both sides to make it a new starting point, jointly implement the consensus reached by both leaders, and push forward the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership in order to benefit people of the two countries.

Isekeshev praised the fruitful achievements of bilateral cooperation, saying it reflects the high-level of bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership.

Kazakhstan is willing to take the opportunity of the launch of the two projects to further advance cooperation with China, he added.

The Horgos center covers 3.43 square km in China and 1.85 square km in Kazakhstan.

The center, as the first trans-border international cooperation center in Eurasia, will serve as a free trade center, an industrial innovation park and a trans-border logistics center.