Workers are busy at the construction site of a key control project for the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway in the Jalal-Abad region of Kyrgyzstan On April 29 (XINHUA) 

The second China-Central Asia summit in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, concluded with several agreements and arrangements, lending strong, new momentum to relations among all participating countries. 

The first summit took place in Xi’an, China, in 2023. It was decided that future summits would occur every two years, alternating between China and Central Asian countries. Last year, the framework for collaborative efforts was enhanced by creating a permanent secretariat based in Xi’an. 

Since his first trip to Central Asia after becoming President of China in 2013, Xi Jinping has visited the region eight times and strengthened bilateral partnerships through platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia. 

Currently, Central Asia, spanning Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, is the only region globally where every nation is a strategic partner of China.  

In September 2013, during a speech at Nazarbayev University in Astana, the Chinese president presented his vision for the “Silk Road Economic Belt,” an essential element of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a China-proposed strategy to boost connectivity along and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes. The initiative has made steady progress throughout the years. Nothing illustrates the successes of collaboration more effectively than impressive statistics. 

By 2024, China’s direct investment stock in the five Central Asian nations had surpassed $17 billion, with cumulative project turnover in sectors like infrastructure, new energy and oil and gas extraction exceeding $60 billion. Chinese investments concentrate on transportation, infrastructure, renewable energy initiatives and electric vehicle manufacturing. A case in point is Chinese car manufacturer BYD, which started building its largest facility outside of China in Uzbekistan last year, aiming for an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles. 

As of November 2024, the China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline had supplied over 500 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China since its launch in 2009.  

A demonstration project in Uzbekistan has facilitated the implementation of drip irrigation over 2,000 hectares, boosting water use efficiency by more than 40 percent. In 2024, Chinese brands captured 39 percent of Kazakhstan's total vehicle sales market, with six of the10 best-selling car brands originating from China.  

Late last year, a ceremony in Jalal-Abad, a city on the Kyrgyz border, marked the commencement of construction for the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway. In his message of congratulations, Xi Jinping emphasized that this railway should become a new demonstration project for collaboration within the BRI. 

The railway will begin at Kashgar, an ancient Silk Road crossroads located in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China. It will traverse the Torugart Pass into Kyrgyzstan, reach Jalal-Abad and conclude in Andijan, east Uzbekistan. Construction is currently underway and is anticipated to last six years. 

Collaboration under the BRI has substantially enhanced the region's trade, travel and overall exchanges. In 2024, trade between China and Central Asian nations hit a record $94.8 billion, fueled partly by the surge in cross-border e-commerce. China is the region's leading trading partner and an important investment source. 

Trade growth has persisted this year. Recent data from China's General Administration of Customs, released on June 15, revealed that in the first five months of this year, China’s imports and exports with the five Central Asian countries reached approximately $39.89 billion, increasing by 10.4% year-on-year.  

Rail traffic between China and Europe via Central Asia is expected to grow. From January to May this year, 7,267 express trains traveled through the Alashankou and Horgos railway ports in Xinjiang, with 3,389 heading to Central Asia. In 2024, 16,400 trains passed through these two ports in Xinjiang, a 14-percent year-on-year increase.  

As of June 2025, more than 110,000 trains had traversed this route, carrying cargo worth about $450 billion. Both passenger and cargo routes connecting the two areas are growing each year, with Xi'an positioning itself as China’s top city for transport routes. 

The countries have been collaborating in agriculture, with agricultural trade between China and Kazakhstan reaching $1.4 billion in 2024, a 10.5-percent increase compared to the previous year. Kazakhstan’s exports to China surpassed $1 billion. In November, Kazakh agricultural businesses forged agreements valued at approximately $1 billion with 10 Chinese firms. A prominent example of cooperation is the demonstration park in Uzbekistan’s Syrdarya region. 

Humanitarian exchanges are thriving between the nations. China and Central Asian countries have built amicable relations among over 80 regions and cities and established more than 10 Confucius Institutes and Lu Ban workshops to foster local professional development. Central Asians have a growing interest in China and the Chinese language, with China becoming a primary destination for Central Asian students pursuing their studies. 

(Confucius Institutes, named after ancient Chinese philosopher and educator Confucius (551-479 B.C.), serve as nonprofit public institutions to help people better understand China by teaching the Chinese language and culture at universities overseas. Lu Ban workshops, named after ancient Chinese woodcraft master Lu Ban (507-444 B.C.), offer vocational skills training for local communities—Ed.)  

Analyzing the current global situation, countries can be divided into two distinct categories: steadily developing nations grappling with adverse demographic trends and nations with healthy demographics still struggling with economic growth and poverty reduction.  

The Central Asian nations are diverging from this trend, as they enjoy sustainable economic growth alongside positive demographic developments. 

As of late 2024, Central Asia’s population had grown to 82 million, a 40-percent increase since 2000. The region’s annual growth rate is approximately 2 percent. Last year, the total GDP of Central Asian nations was $519 billion, more than quadrupling since 2000, with an 80-percent increase in just the last four years.  

Over the past 20 years, Central Asia has averaged a real annual growth rate of 6.7 percent, surpassing the 5.3 percent average for developing nations and the global average of 2.6 percent. From 2000 onward, foreign trade has surged nearly nine fold, and foreign direct investment has seen a 17-fold increase. GDP at purchasing power parity, measure of the relative value of currencies that compares the prices of purchasing a fixed basket of goods and services in different countries, has risen 1.8 times since 2000. 

The abovementioned circumstances suggest a considerable opportunity for extensive collaboration between China and Central Asia. 

The author is former prime minister of Kyrgyzstan, a distinguished professor of the Belt and Road School at Beijing Normal University and author of the book Central Asia’s Economic Rebirth in the Shadow of the New Great Game  

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon  

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