Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a welcome ceremony held by his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana on Thursday. 

Xi arrived in the Kazakh capital on Wednesday for a four-day state visit to the central Asian country. 

During his visit, he will attend the 17th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the opening ceremony of the 2017 Astana Expo. 

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Kazakhstan.