China's Sichuan boosts cooperation with central Asian countries

The southwest province of Sichuan signed nine deals with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday to strengthen cooperation in trade, tourism, education and health.

Under the agreements, Sichuan and Kazakhstan will establish a Traditional Chinese Medicine center in Almaty and strengthen exchanges and cooperation in traditional medicine.

Chartered flights will begin to ply routes between China and the central Asian countries to facilitate tourism cooperation.

The deals were signed at the China-Central Asia Cooperation Forum held in Sichuan's provincial capital Chengdu, which was attended by more than 200 officials, entrepreneurs, researchers and other representatives from China and central Asian countries.

"The 'Belt and Road Initiative' has provided a broad platform for cooperation between Sichuan and central Asia," said Sichuan Governor Yin Li at the forum.

Senior officials from central Asian countries were upbeat that all sides had much to gain from the opportunities brought about by the initiative.

In the first eight months, trade between Sichuan and five central Asian countries hit 71 million U.S. dollars. Four companies from Sichuan have established firms in central Asia, backed by total investment of 50 million dollars. The value of contracted projects of Sichuan firms in central Asia has exceeded 1 billion dollars. Endi