NUR-SULTAN, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here Wednesday for a state visit to Kazakhstan.

Xi left Beijing on Wednesday morning to attend the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and pay state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan at the invitation of Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

His entourage includes Ding Xuexiang, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee; Yang Jiechi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee; State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi; and He Lifeng, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and head of the National Development and Reform Commission.

When the Chinese president arrived at the Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport on Wednesday afternoon, he was warmly welcomed by Tokayev, and a group of senior officials including Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mukhtar Tileuberdi and Nur-Sultan Mayor Altai Kulginov.

Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan Zhang Xiao also welcomed Xi at the airport.