China and five Central Asian countries have vowed to further enhance their trade and investment cooperation. Commerce ministers from the six nations met earlier via video link. Huang Yue has more.
China and the five Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – agreed to establish the mechanism of the China+Central Asia Summit last year.
The first one is expected to be held in China next month.
The commerce ministers of the five Central Asian countries agreed to sign a series of cooperation agreements during the upcoming summit.
Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said China and the five Central Asian countries have achieved fruitful results in their cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.
WANG WENTAO China’s Commerce Minister “In the first two months of this year, China’s trade volume with Central Asia grew by 22 percent year-on-year, showing strong momentum in development with a better structure. The cross-border e-commerce between China and Central Asia increased by 95 percent year-on-year in 2022, and nearly 300 Central Asian enterprises joined China’s e-commerce platforms.”
The Chinese commerce minister said the products imported from the Central Asian countries are quite popular among Chinese consumers.
He said China will hold live-streaming sales events in May to further promote Central Asian goods.
Kazakhstan’s Trade minister said that Central Asia is now one of the most rapidly developing regions in the world with a strategic geographical location and huge economic potential.
ZHUMANGARIN SERIK Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan “Central Asia was the first region to implement the Belt and Road Initiative. And thanks to the joint efforts, our cooperation has been restored to the pre-pandemic level and we’ve already witnessed a substantial increase in trade.”
HUANG YUE Beijing “Statistics show, last year, trade volume between China and the five Central Asian countries reached a record high of over 70 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 40 percent. The Chinese commerce minister said, in the future, China will continue to share with the Central Asian countries the benefits of its huge market and opening-up, and work together to facilitate their cooperation in various areas. Huang Yue, CGTN, Beijing.”
Source: CGTN News
