China-Central Asia Summit to draw new blueprint for future cooperation: spokesperson

BEIJING, June 16 (Xinhua) -- At the upcoming Second China-Central Asia Summit to be held later this week, heads of state will jointly draw a new blueprint for future cooperation, open up new space for Belt and Road cooperation and build an even closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said here Monday.

Spokesperson Guo Jiakun made the remarks at a press briefing when answering a related query.

Noting Central Asia is not only the place where the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was first proposed, but also a pace-setter in high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, Guo said that all five Central Asian countries have signed BRI cooperation documents with China, and China and Central Asian countries have implemented a series of signature projects designed to boost development and make lives better for the people.

Trade between China and Central Asian countries hit a record high of 674.15 billion yuan in 2024, up by 116 percent compared with that of 2013. Guo said that all sides have found a new model of mutually beneficial cooperation through the China-Kazakhstan Crude Oil Pipeline project and the China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline project. The China-Tajikistan highway, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan highway and the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway have taken regional connectivity to new levels, and practical cooperation is expanded to digital economy and green transition.

"China has mutual visa exemption with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The Luban Workshops project is picking up speed. People-to-people and cultural exchanges have moved onto the fast lane and brought our peoples close to each other," Guo said, pointing out that high-quality Belt and Road cooperation is increasingly becoming a key focus of China-Central Asia cooperation. ■