At the China-Central Asia Industrial and Investment Cooperation Forum, which ended in the Chinese city of Xi'an, participants from Central Asian countries expressed the opinion that the advantage of the super-large Chinese market, an integral industrial system and advanced technologies have provided strong support for cooperation between China and the states of Central Asia, Xinhua reports.
China is one of the most important trading partners of Kazakhstan, and the deepening of cooperation with it is one of the important areas, said a representative of one of Kazakhstan's grain trading corporations in Beijing.
China has become one of the most important partners of the 5 Central Asian countries in the framework of trade and economic cooperation. Contacts and cooperation between China and the five states of Central Asia deepened. The data show that in 2022, China's foreign trade turnover with Central Asia reached $70.2 billion, an increase of about 40% year on year.
Energy cooperation is an important element of interaction between China and Central Asia, and also serves as a "ballast" and "stabilizer" for bilateral friendly relations. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the countries of Central Asia, a number of major projects have been jointly implemented, such as the China-Central Asia gas pipeline, the China-Kazakhstan oil pipeline and the Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan. .
In 2017, with the support of China, the modernization of the Bishkek thermal power plant was completed in Kyrgyzstan, within the framework of which two power units with a total capacity of 300 MW were reconstructed through joint efforts.
In order to further promote economic, trade and investment cooperation with SCO countries and countries along the Belt and Road, the China-SCO Regional Trade and Economic Cooperation Demonstration Zone in Qingdao has established a comprehensive service platform for regional economic and trade cooperation between China and the SCO, contributing to the development of "soft link" in the field of trade and economic cooperation between China and the countries of Central Asia, the SCO countries and countries along the "Belt and Road".
"Qingdao has the fourth largest port in the world. We use our advantage of multimodal transportation by sea, land, air and rail to provide Central Asian countries with market-oriented access to the sea, and this platform plays the role of a "soft link" in this, Zhang Dong, Deputy Head of the Committee for Management of the China-SCO Regional Trade and Economic Cooperation Demonstration Zone, said.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
February 20, 2023