Beijing, 5 May (ZXS) -- Interpreting the outcomes of the China-Central Asia Summit: Promoting economic and trade cooperation to a new height
China News Agency reporter Li Xiaoyu
First, as expected by various circles, the China-Central Asia Summit reached a series of cooperation consensus in the economic and trade fields, involving trade, investment, energy, e-commerce and other aspects. Beijing scholars believe that these achievements will bring the economic and trade cooperation between the two sides to a new height.
On May 5-18, the China-Central Asia Summit will be held in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. Photo by ZHANG Yuan, reporter of China News Agency
Establish a ministerial meeting mechanism in various fields
"Mechanism" is a key word in the list of outcomes of this summit. The list is clear, and a ministerial meeting mechanism will be established in key priority areas of cooperation. In the economic and trade field, the multilateral cooperation platforms initiated by China include the China-Central Asia Economic and Trade Ministers' Meeting Mechanism, the China-Central Asia Industry and Investment Ministerial Meeting Mechanism, the China-Central Asia Agriculture Ministers' Meeting Mechanism, the China-Central Asia Energy Cooperation Mechanism, and the China-Central Asia Customs Directors Meeting Mechanism.
Ding Xiaoxing, director of the Eurasia Institute of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said in an interview with China News Agency that mechanism building is an important part of the China-Central Asia summit. The establishment of a ministerial-level meeting mechanism in key economic and trade cooperation fields will not only enable the smooth implementation of the decisions and plans formed by the China-Central Asia summit mechanism, but also help properly solve the problems encountered in cooperation, and is of great significance to promoting the stable development of economic and trade cooperation between China and Central Asian countries.
Li Yongquan, director of the Eurasian Social Development Research Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council of China, also said that the list of summit outcomes clearly will establish a ministerial meeting mechanism in many fields, which will usher in new breakthroughs in economic and trade cooperation and further stimulate its potential.
Trade and investment development welcomes new opportunities
Trade and investment are also a highlight of the summit's list of outcomes. According to the list, China and the five Central Asian countries will promote trade development, promote the diversification of trade structure, and simplify trade procedures; Carry out "single window" interconnection of international trade and promote cross-border customs clearance facilitation; Increase China's imports of Central Asian agricultural products. The list also clarifies that the potential of the China-Central Asia e-commerce cooperation dialogue mechanism will be tapped.
Official data show that in the first four months of this year, China's imports and exports with the five Central Asian countries increased by 4.37% year-on-year, far exceeding the overall growth rate of China's foreign trade in the same period. Among them, in April, the monthly import and export scale of China and the five Central Asian countries exceeded 3 billion yuan for the first time.
Analysts believe that when the development momentum of trade between the two sides is good, the summit reached a consensus to promote trade development, which is undoubtedly "strike while the iron is hot", which will bring China's trade exchanges with Central Asian countries to a new level.
Ding Xiaoxing said that the rapid development of e-commerce in recent years has become a major new engine to promote China's foreign trade, and it is also a new trend in the development of international trade in the future. Under this circumstance, the list clearly taps the potential of the e-commerce cooperation dialogue mechanism, which will not only make Central Asian characteristic agricultural products more convenient and flexible to enter the Chinese market, but also provide new impetus for the trade development of Central Asian countries.
In the field of investment, China is now the largest or major source of investment in Central Asian countries. According to Chinese statistics, as of the end of March this year, China's direct investment in the five Central Asian countries exceeded US$3 billion, with investment projects involving processing and manufacturing, infrastructure and other fields. The list clearly upgrades the investment agreement between China and Central Asian countries, which will make two-way investment more liberalized and facilitated.
Establishing partnerships for energy development
The list clearly states that the China-Central Asia Energy Development Partnership will be established to ensure the stable operation of the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline and carry out cooperation in the field of renewable energy.
At present, the three lines of China-Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline and China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline ABC are running smoothly, and the construction of the D line of China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline has also made positive progress. China has also signed a five-year intergovernmental cooperation plan (5-2021) with Turkmenistan to accelerate cooperation between the two countries in the field of energy and non-resources, and actively promote natural gas price negotiations.
Ding Xiaoxing said that energy cooperation is one of the most important contents of cooperation between China and Central Asian countries. At present, Central Asian countries need to find a reliable market for energy mineral products, and China needs to further expand energy mineral import sources to better ensure energy security. Therefore, the establishment of the China-Central Asia Energy Development Partnership and the strengthening of energy cooperation are timely and have broad prospects. (End)