Astana, Jun 17 (EFE).- Chinese President Xi Xinping chaired Tuesday in the Kazakh capital the second summit between China and the five Central Asian countries, a region bordering Iran, which is in a military conflict with Israel.
At the summit, which began at 11:00 GMT, the Central Asian countries are seeking to strengthen regional cooperation with the Asian giant in the face of the uncertainty represented by the Russian war in Ukraine and the United States tariff policy.
For China, the five Central Asian countries—Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan—are vital to its plans to build a trade corridor to Europe.
One of the issues to be discussed, in addition to a possible reduction of trade barriers, are transportation projects such as the railway that will link northwest China with Uzbekistan, according to local press reports.
As a sign of the region’s strategic importance for Beijing, this is Xi’s third visit to Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s largest country and economic powerhouse, in the last five years.
In terms of security, Russia remains an important ally for Central Asian governments through the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
However, although the European Union and the United States also have interests in the region, China is the main trading partner for the five Central Asian republics.
With the exception of Turkmenistan, China is the source of at least one-third of these countries’ imports.
The first China-Central Asia summit took place in May 2023 in the historic Chinese city of Xi’an. EFE