A Uzbekistan reporter takes photo with the actors of Tang Dynasty maid in in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 18，2023. (PHOTO: VCG)

Edited by TANG Zhexiao

The China-Central Asia Summit which was held on May 18-19 in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi province, marks the first major diplomatic event that China host this year.

The six countries jointly signed the Xi'an Declaration of the China-Central Asia Summit, adopted a list of summit outcomes, determining to work together to rise to challenges and foster a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future.

Aktilek Musaeva, Kyrgyzstan's Ambassador to China, said that the China-Central Asia Summit is an important dialogue platform between China and Central Asian countries.

The foreign ministers of the five Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz and Turkmenistan, said that developing relations with China is a priority of their respective diplomatic agendas and that they will maintain high-level exchanges with China, promote Belt and Road cooperation, deepen people-to-people exchanges, fight terrorism, separatism and extremism, and usher in the next 30 golden years of China-Central Asia relations, according to Kazakhstan's The Astana Times .

Over the past decade, China and these five Central Asian nations have jointly implemented a number of major projects, which have benefited the region and its people in various ways.

Some examples of these are completion of the China-Kazakhstan Horgos International Border Cooperation Center and the China-Kazakhstan Logistics Base in Lianyungang, providing a gateway to the Pacific for Central Asian countries. The Chinese-built tunnel of the Angren-Pap railway line in Uzbekistan, the longest tunnel in Central Asia, which has saved local residents the trouble of climbing through the mountains or taking a detour via neighboring countries.

The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan highway, which has become an important international transportation route that runs smoothly through the region's mountainous terrain. Vladimir Norov, former Uzbekistan foreign minister, said the railway allows goods from China to reach Europe several days faster.

This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed in Kazakhstan in 2013.

The BRI is actively seeking alignment with the Central Asian countries' development strategies, carrying out a series of win-win projects that bring tangible benefits to the people in the region.

These projects, including establishing the China-Central Asia Agricultural Cooperation Center and the Luban Workshop (a Chinese vocational workshop program training talent overseas), were planned for the betterment of the people.

Kubanychbek Taabaldiev, a Kyrgyz professor of international relations at Ala-Too International University, noted the close ties between countries in the region and China is China's success, not only in the economic field or through introduction of new digital technologies, but also in poverty eradication and the improvement of civil society conditions.

Shavkat Alimbekov, leading researcher at International Institute for Central Asia, said in an interview with Global Times that the China-Central Asia Summit will give new impetus to the high-quality construction of the Belt and Road Initiative.

"One of the key aspects of this cooperation is the development of the 'Green Silk Road,' that is, the use of green development technologies, innovative solutions and advanced technologies to achieve environmental efficiency and sustainability," said Alimbekov.

In January, 2022, China and the five Central Asian countries jointly announced to build a China-Central Asia community with a shared future.

The China-Central Asia Summit, held at the starting point of the ancient Silk Road, is set to reinvigorate the millennia-old trade route, ushering in a promising outlook for China-Central Asia cooperation and contributing to an increasingly closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future.