The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative is demonstrating robust vitality as its westward cooperation with Central Asia deepens and its southward New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor sees surging freight volumes, creating a highly integrated trade network, experts said.
The westward momentum is anchored by the ongoing implementation of an action plan for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation between China and Central Asian countries. The cooperation document in this regard, which was signed during the second China-Central Asia Summit in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, in June 2025, marked the first time China signed a comprehensive BRI cooperation document with all countries in a neighboring region.
Through continuous coordination, China and the five Central Asian countries — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan — are comprehensively advancing the plan and outlining future cooperation paths.
"China and Central Asian countries firmly support free trade and the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core, and are deepening high-quality Belt and Road cooperation," said Sun Weidong, secretary-general of the Secretariat of the China-Central Asia Mechanism.
