Roundup: China-Kyrgyzstan ties enriched by deepening economic ties

Economic and trade cooperation between China and Kyrgyzstan have witnessed tremendous improvement over the years thanks to an ever-strengthening bilateral relationship and the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative.

In 2013, when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Kyrgyzstan and held talks with his counterpart Almazbek Atambayev, the two heads of state announced they would upgrade the China-Kyrgyzstan relationship to a strategic partnership.

Kyrgyzstan, a landlocked country in the heart of Central Asia, was one of the first countries that supported the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. With an open market and geographical advantages of a transit hub, Kyrgyzstan is highly complementary with China in terms of energy, transportation and agriculture.

As a growing number of Chinese enterprises are investing in Kyrgyzstan, cooperation between the two sides on the economic front, technology and industrial capacity has deepened, while more and more large-scale infrastructure projects have been launched.

Over the past two years, a series of important projects under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative have been completed in Kyrgyzstan, such as repairing roads in Bishkek by the China Road and Bridge Corporation, and the "Datka-Kemin" 500kV transmission line project built by Chinese company TBEA, which has helped the country gain energy independence, not to mention providing more convenience for the Kyrgyz people.

On May 22, when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with his Kyrgyz counterpart Erlan Abdyldaev in Kyrgyzstan, the two discussed the promotion of agricultural cooperation.

In an article released ahead of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's two-day visit to Kyrgyzstan beginning Wednesday, China's ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Xiao Qinghua said that bilateral relations between the two countries, which have been growing rapidly, are at their best in history.

Xiao said that the two countries are working together to promote the development of the Silk Road Economic Belt, and great achievements have already been scored.

The two countries have carried out a series of strategic infrastructure projects on energy, electricity and transportation, making positive contributions to regional security and stability, the ambassador added.

The visit, the first to the central Asian country for Premier Li and an important high-level visit between the two countries this year, would strengthen the traditional friendship between China and Kyrgyzstan, said the ambassador, adding it will also enrich the bilateral relationship between the two sides and inject new impetus to the development of their strategic partnership. Endi