Summit enhances regional cooperation

President Xi Jinping returned to Beijing on Wednesday after attending the second China-Central Asia Summit, which had outcomes that officials and experts said would give stronger momentum to China-Central Asia cooperation and help the Eurasian heartland become a vast oasis of peace, harmony and development in a turbulent world.

In less than 48 hours in Astana, Kazakhstan, Xi attended more than 10 bilateral and multilateral events, during which he renewed traditional friendship, discussed ways of promoting cooperation, and drew the blueprint for development with the heads of state of the five Central Asian countries — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

In the Astana Declaration of the second China-Central Asia Summit, leaders of the six countries pledged continuous efforts to strengthen friendly relations, deepen political mutual trust, and expand economic cooperation for the future of the region, as the world faces heightened turbulence and volatility.

"No matter how the international situation changes, China will remain unwavering in opening up to the outside world, and embrace higher-quality cooperation with Central Asian countries to deepen the integration of interests and achieve common development," Xi said on Tuesday when addressing the summit, the second of its kind. The first was held in China's northwestern city of Xi'an in 2023.

The summit also announced the signing of 12 cooperation agreements regarding Belt and Road cooperation, facilitation of personnel exchanges, green minerals, trade, connectivity, industry and customs.

Noting that countries now face the common task of ensuring sustainable progress amid growing global uncertainty, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said he believes that the China-Central Asia mechanism will become a model of innovative strategic partnership for shared prosperity, common security and inclusive development.

Xi's trip to Kazakhstan marked his third consecutive visit to neighboring countries since China held the Central Conference on Work Related to Neighboring Countries in April.

Speaking at a news briefing in Astana upon the conclusion of the tour on Tuesday night, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that a highlight of the trip was Xi's announcement that China and Central Asian countries have explored and formed the China-Central Asia Spirit, which features mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual benefit, mutual assistance and the pursuit of common modernization through high-quality development.

"China never seeks modernization in isolation but is committed to joint development and win-win cooperation with other countries. Through high-quality development and high-level opening-up, China aims to bring more development opportunities to countries worldwide, including those in Central Asia, and to work together with all nations to forge a broad path toward common modernization," Wang said.

The signing of the treaty of permanent good-neighborliness and friendly cooperation was the most significant innovation of the summit, said Wang, as it "sets a new milestone in the history of relations among the six countries".

"This will lay a solid foundation for the long-term and steady development of relations between China and Central Asian countries," Wang added.

Sun Weidong, secretary-general of the Secretariat of the China-Central Asia Mechanism, told reporters after the summit that leaders of the six countries recognize the strategic significance of the region and the importance of further deepening multilateral cooperation based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit.

"In Astana, the heads of state comprehensively summarized the significant achievements of the China-Central Asia mechanism since the first summit and made a new top-level design for the development of China-Central Asia relations, pointing out the new direction for all-around cooperation between China and Central Asia," Sun said.

Since the first summit in 2023, trade between China and Central Asian countries has surged 35 percent, reaching a historic high of nearly $100 billion last year.

The joint declaration issued on Tuesday also outlines the six priority directions for China-Central Asia cooperation: unimpeded trade, industrial investment, connectivity, green minerals, agricultural modernization, and facilitation of personnel exchanges.

The political will of the leaders of China and Central Asian countries to promote sustainable development and deepen the China-Central Asia cooperation mechanism plays a key role, said Sheradil Baktygulov, director of the Institute of World Policy of Kyrgyzstan.

The leaders' participation in the summit reflects mutual respect and a shared commitment to deepening the China-Central Asia partnership, Baktygulov told Xinhua News Agency.

It enables them to align on key issues, strengthen mutual trust, and forge a coordinated approach to regional security and development, he added.