ASTANA -- President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called on China and Tajikistan to expand the scale of bilateral trade and investment.

Xi made the remarks in a meeting with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon on the sidelines of the second China-Central Asia Summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana.

Xi recalled that during his visit to Tajikistan last year, he and Rahmon jointly announced the establishment of a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in the new era between China and Tajikistan, and made new plans and arrangements for all-round cooperation between the two countries.

He said the two sides should promptly implement them, deliver more practical results, and advance the high-quality construction of the China-Tajikistan community with a shared future.

Xi emphasized that China is a trustworthy neighbor and partner of Tajikistan and firmly supports Tajikistan in safeguarding its national independence, sovereignty and security.

China and Tajikistan should give full play to the role of the strategic dialogue mechanism between the two countries' foreign ministers, and coordinate and advance cooperation in various fields, said Xi.

The two countries should expand the scale of bilateral trade and investment, further speed up the construction of transportation infrastructure projects, and continuously promote connectivity, he said.