BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping left Beijing Wednesday afternoon for a state visit to Kazakhstan and a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Xi was invited by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. He will also attend the 17th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State and the opening ceremony of the World Expo in Astana during his stay.

His entourage includes Wang Huning, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee; Li Zhanshu, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee; and State Councilor Yang Jiechi.