Second summit in Kazakhstan: China and Central Asia strengthen partnership

Second summit in Kazakhstan: China and Central Asia strengthen partnership

Astana, Kasachstan - On June 16, 2025, the second summit between China and Central Asia begins in Astana, Kazakhstan. President Xi Jinping will take part in this important meeting from June 16 to 18, which was called by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The primary goal of the summit is to deepen strategic trust and to intensify the practical cooperation between China and the five Central Asian countries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. This reports ots.at.

Cui Zheng, director of the Research Center for Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, emphasized that the summit will strengthen the mechanism between China and Central Asia and bring about concrete results in cooperation. Already at the first summit in May 2023, Xi’an's explanation was signed, which confirmed the establishment of a narrower community between China and Central Asia.

economic cooperation in the region

In recent years, numerous cooperation projects between China and the Central Asian countries have developed. An important project is the rail connection between China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, which is under construction, which aims to reduce logistics costs and times and to increase trade efficiency. Crude oil and natural gas pipelines and an oil refinery are already in operation in Kazakhstan.

In addition, a 1,500 MW gas power plant project in the Syrdarya region was put into operation in Uzbekistan. In Tajikistan, among other things, government buildings and important sections of the highway between China and Tajikistan are implemented. The trade between China and the five countries reached a volume of over $ 94.8 billion in 2024, which corresponds to an increase of 5.4 billion compared to the previous year

focus on health and epidemic prevention

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on a new kind of regional cooperation during a meeting. This was done as part of the second China Plus Central Minister of Foreign Minister in Xi’an. Wang emphasized that China was willing to improve the capacities in the field of public health in Central Asia. In addition, he announced a new round of vaccine help for the Central Asian countries and pointed out the support of China in research, development and production of COVID-19 vaccines to intensify the cooperation in epidemic prevention, such as china.org.cn reported.

Overall, the summit is not only regarded as a shop window for the success of multilateral cooperation, but also as a model for south-south cooperation at a time when international relationships are becoming increasingly complex.