BEIJING - Chinese President Hu Jintao will broaden cooperation with Pakistan during his visit next week by signing agreements on trade, culture and education, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Thursday.

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Hu will meet with Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and other leaders during his November 23-26 visit, the first by a Chinese president in a decade, ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.

"This will broaden cooperation between the two countries in various fields and deepen strategic partnership," she said at a regular briefing. "It is of milestone importance."

Trade volume between the two countries in 2005 grew by more than 40 percent from the previous year, Musharraf has said.

In 2004-05, Pakistan's exports to China were US$354.1 million (euro297.9 million) and imports from China were worth US$1.8 billion (euro1.5 billion), according to figures from China's Ministry of Commerce.

Jiang did not give details on the agreements that will be signed but said they would cover trade, culture and education.

Chinese state media reported in September that China hopes to sign a deal to supply reactors to Pakistan for six new nuclear power plants.

The plants would be built within 10 years, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing an unidentified Pakistani official. It didn't give a price for the deal.

In 1999, China helped Pakistan construct a 300-megawatt nuclear power station at Chashma in Punjab province. A second facility is under construction at the same site.

Jiang said she did not have information on whether China and Pakistan would sign any more agreements on nuclear energy cooperation during Hu's visit.