China and Central Asia agree to strengthen economic relations

On 18 and 19 May, China hosted a summit that brought together China’s leaders and five Central Asian countries, namely Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan in Xi’an, the starting point of the old Silk Road. The summit is the first meeting of Chinese President Xi Jinping with Central Asian leaders since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two sides 31 years ago.

It was agreed to hold the “China-Central Asia” summit during the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of these countries within the China Plus Five group in the city of Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan last year. Invitations were sent to Central Asian leaders to attend the summit last March in congratulatory cables sent separately by China to those countries on the occasion of Nowruz Day.

The venue of the Summit reflects China’s goal of bringing the Central Asian States closer to the Belt and Road Initiative because of its central role in linking China with Europe and Africa.

In his address to the leaders of the five Central Asian countries, the Chinese President called for the full utilization of the possibilities of cooperation between his country and Central Asia in the areas of trade, economy, industry, energy and transport, and stressed the need to develop cooperation in other areas in agriculture, poverty reduction, climate change, health and digital innovation.

The Chinese President unveiled a series of proposals and actions aimed at strengthening and deepening cooperation between the two sides, introducing an eight-point proposal to that end ranging from expanding economic and trade relations to energy cooperation, fostering green innovation and dialogue among civilizations and maintaining regional and other peace.

President Peng indicated that China was ready to assist Central Asian States in the areas of security, law enforcement and defence affairs, and stressed China’s and Central Asian States’ response to external attempts to provoke “colour revolutions”, and opposition to the three forces of evil of terrorism, separatism and extremism.

The Chinese President announced that Beijing would provide $3.7 billion in assistance to Central Asian countries, and China would encourage Chinese companies in the region to create more jobs. It will seek to expedite the construction of China-Central Asia’s natural gas pipeline (d).

The Meeting Parties also agreed to accelerate the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan Railway, Uzbekistan, agreed in 1997. This transport project is linked to the “Central Corridor” initiative, which starts from the Chinese city of Kashgar and passes Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.

Throughout the two-day summit, the Chinese President met with the leaders of the five individual Central Asian States and signed bilateral agreements promoting trade, infrastructure, technological investment, culture, agriculture, health, information and visa exemption.

For example, China signed a mutual visa waiver agreement with Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan and China signed a cooperation agreement between the Kyrgyz News Agency and the Chinese Administration’s Broadcasting Centre for Europe and Asia.