The China-Central Asia Summit will be held in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province from May 18 to 19, 2023. At that time, the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan will be invited to attend the summit. Before the summit, a number of officials from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan expressed their expectation to continue to deepen economic and trade cooperation with China in various fields and achieve more fruitful results.

First Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism of Uzbekistan Azamov: When it comes to cooperation in tourism, we are very happy to see that Chinese airlines have resumed flights to Uzbekistan, especially long-term flights. Know that these flights are full. We hope to achieve the goal of attracting 100,000 Chinese tourists to Uzbekistan.

The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway currently in the planning stage has a total length of about 523 kilometers, including 213 kilometers in China, 260 kilometers in Kyrgyzstan and about 50 kilometers in Uzbekistan. After the completion of the China-Jiwu Railway, it will be the shortest freight route from China to Europe and the Middle East, and the freight distance will be greatly shortened.

Minister of Economy and Commerce of Kyrgyzstan Aman Glityev: The China-Kyrgyzstan-Ukraine Railway is already under planning. I think the Sino-Kyrgyzstan-Ukraine Railway has great potential. It makes it possible to find alternative resources, find alternative markets, and go to sea. With China's backing, Central Asian countries are looking for new ways and markets and access to the sea.

Minister of Transport of Uzbekistan Mahkamov: The China-Kyzbekistan-Uzbekistan Railway will mainly facilitate the transportation of goods, shortening the transportation distance by about 900 to 1,000 kilometers, which will make it faster and cheaper to transport goods to Europe through Uzbekistan.

Khamidov, Deputy Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan: We can see that China, as a trade facilitator and a major investor in the entire Central Asian region, is playing a very important role. China's projects in Central Asia help to make the region more connected, our cooperation is not limited to infrastructure, but also includes all different fields, including agriculture, power sector, healthcare and education.

This is the first time since China and the five Central Asian countries established diplomatic relations 31 years ago that the heads of state of the six countries have held a summit in a physical form. As China's first major home-court diplomatic event in 2023, this summit, which is a milestone in the history of China's relations with Central Asian countries, has attracted much attention and expectations. It will surely draw a new blueprint for China-Central Asia relations and open a new era of cooperation era. Editor / Zhao E