By the end of last year, China’s direct investment stock in five Central Asian countries reached almost US $15 billion, Chinese Trade Minister Wang Wentao said at an online meeting of trade and economy ministers under Central Asia+China format, Xinhua reports.
According to the minister, China and the countries of the region have launched a number of cooperation projects in such areas as oil and gas exploration, processing and manufacturing, connectivity and digital technologies.
The trade turnover between China and five Central Asian countries, namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, has maintained steady growth dynamics, Wang stated.
In the first two months of this year, the trade turnover between China and the five Central Asian countries surged 22% year-on-year, Wang said.
Citing statistics characterizing the level of trade exchanges between China and the countries of the region, the minister said trade between China and the five countries reached 70.2 billion U.S. dollars last year, a historic high.
In 2022, China’s imports of agricultural, energy and mineral products from Central Asian countries jumped by more than 50%, while exports of mechanical and electronic products from China increased by 42%.
Wang stressed China’s willingness to work with all sides to promote new patterns in trade and investment, pursue innovation as a development impetus.
Among the promising areas of cooperation are support for the security and stability of industrial and supply chains in the region, support for the multilateral trading system and the transformation of interregional cross-border trade into a new growth engine.
The ministers of the five Central Asian countries expressed their readiness to join efforts with China to strengthen cooperation on trade and investment, digital economy, green development and transit transportation.
The countries also plan to launch an e-commerce campaign to introduce Central Asian goods to Chinese consumers. This event will take place at the China-Central Asia summit to be held in Xi’an in May.
The meeting of Ministers of Economy and Trade “China – Central Asia” was organized on the initiative of the Chinese side and will be held on an ongoing basis in order to systematically sum up the outcomes of trade and economic cooperation and promote the economic development of the six countries. ///nCa, 18 April 2023