DUSHANBE - Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed Saturday that his country and Tajikistan strive to increase bilateral trade to 3 billion US dollars in five years.

Xi, who is here for his first state visit to the Central Asian country after attending a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, set the target during his talks with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon.

With Tajikistan enthusiastic about China's Silk Road Economic Belt initiative, Xi called on the two countries to seize the opportunity to boost cooperation in various fields.

China and Tajikistan, he suggested, should cooperate more closely in oil and gas, electricity, trade and transportation infrastructure construction, improve interconnectivity, and guarantee a smooth construction of the China-Central Asia gas pipeline.

China is currently Tajikistan's third largest trade partner. Bilateral trade reached 1.959 billion dollars in 2013, up 5.3 percent from the previous year.

Tajikistan is the first leg of Xi's four-nation Asia trip, which will also take him to Maldives, Sri Lanka and India.