ASTANA, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev, vowed Thursday to accelerate the alignment of their countries' respective development policies and push bilateral ties to a higher level.

During their meeting in the Kazakh capital of Astana, the two presidents agreed to further integrate the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and Kazakhstan's development strategy of "Nurly Zhol," or "Bright Path" in the Kazakh language.