Obid Khakimov, the Director of the CERR: China is one of the key strategic partners for all Central Asian countries

The delegation of Uzbekistan took part in the China-Central Asia Development Knowledge Symposium, organized by the Center for International Knowledge on Development (CIKD) in Beijing, reports “Dunyo” IA correspondent.

The purpose of the event was the development of a knowledge exchange network between China and Central Asia (CA) and the formation of priority areas for future joint research.

The CIKD was founded in 2017 on the initiative of Xi Jinping at the UN Development Summit in 2015. Engaged in research in the field of knowledge development, international cooperation and sustainable development.

The event was attended by representatives of the public sector of Central Asian countries, scientific and expert-analytical circles, foreign experts.

During the event, development challenges in Central Asian countries were discussed, including issues of poverty reduction, food security, industrial cooperation, green development and digitalization, as well as opportunities for further knowledge exchange between Central Asia and China.

In his speech at the plenary session, Lu Hao, Director of the Development Research Center under the State Council of the People’s Republic of China and the Center for International Knowledge on Development, noted the readiness to share China’s knowledge and experience for Central Asian countries in the field of poverty reduction policy, innovations in economic sectors and human development.

Director of the Center for Economic Research and Reforms – Obid Khakimov, speaking at the plenary session, noted that Uzbekistan attaches priority importance to the development and strengthening of relations with China, which is one of the key strategic partners for all Central Asian countries. Cooperation between the countries is developing dynamically, and a new format of cooperation "Central Asia – China", created at the initiative of China, will help bring it to a new level. The 1st "Central Asia – China" Summit was held in May this year in Xi’an.

The Director of the CERR noted that trade relations occupy a special place in cooperation between Central Asian countries and China. At the Xi’an Summit, firm confidence was also expressed in solving the task of doubling the trade turnover of the Central Asian countries with China by 2030, primarily due to the balanced growth of mutual supplies of industrial goods and agricultural products, the formation of an effective trade and logistics infrastructure and modern wholesale distribution networks, the introduction of a "green" and "express" corridors, as well as the creation of common e-commerce platforms.

In his speech, the Director of the CERR said that in recent years the economies of the Central Asian countries have demonstrated high growth rates of 5.5% on average, the total GDP of the Central Asian countries has grown 1.4 times over the past 6 years from $291 billion up to $406 billion. The merit of China, with which the economic cooperation of the Central Asian countries is developing dynamically, was noted. China is among the main trade, economic and investment partners of all Central Asian countries and occupies the top 1-3 places in the trade turnover of Central Asian countries.

According to estimates, over the past 6 years, the total trade turnover of the Central Asian countries with China has increased by 2 times from $24.3 billion to $49.6 billion, exports increased 1.8 times from $14.5 billion up to $26.4 billion, imports increased 2.4 times from $9.8 billion up to $23.2 billion. China’s share in the trade turnover of the Central Asian countries increased from 18.4% to 22.2%.

There has been a significant increase in the volume of mutual trade. The trade turnover of Uzbekistan with China has increased 1.9 times in 6 years from $4.7 billion up to $8.9 billion, exports increased 1.2 times from $2.0 billion up to $2.5 billion, imports increased 2.4 times from $2.7 billion up to $6.4 billion. At the same time, China’s share in Uzbekistan’s foreign trade in 2022 was 17.9%, 13.0% in exports, 20.9% in imports.

According to the results of the 1st half of 2023, China came out on top of Uzbekistan’s trading partners, China’s share in the total turnover of our country amounted to 18.1%.

Uzbekistan’s investment cooperation with China is also experiencing steady growth. The total volume of mastered Chinese investments has increased 5 times since 2017 and amounted to $11 billion. In 2022 alone, $2.2 billion was disbursed. There are 1,860 enterprises with Chinese capital operating in various sectors of Uzbekistan’s economy, which is 2.3 times more than 6 years ago.

Obid Khakimov named priority areas in which Uzbekistan is interested in interacting and adopting the Chinese experience. In particular, the implementation of Chinese knowledge, innovations and technologies in the areas of effective development of agriculture and industry, renewable energy sources, transport communications and poverty reduction policies.

In conclusion, it was emphasized that the achievement of these indicators will be facilitated by the expansion of cooperation with China and the introduction of advanced Chinese experience in the regions of Uzbekistan, and joint efforts will help to effectively cope with modern challenges and successfully implement promising projects in both bilateral and multilateral formats.

In addition, within the framework of the visit of the Uzbek delegation, a two-day trip of the Symposium participants to the village of Uishi was organized to familiarize with the ongoing poverty reduction policy on the ground. The experts got acquainted with the practical aspects of the Chinese experience in the development of the industrial potential of the regions and the integrated development of tourist zones.

“Dunyo” IA