Ministry of Commerce: China to become the largest trading partner of Central Asian countries by 2025

On the afternoon of January 22nd, the Ministry of Commerce held a routine press conference. Some media have asked that the total amount of goods trade between China and Central Asian countries will exceed 100 billion US dollars for the first time in 2025. What are the highlights? In addition, what measures does the Ministry of Commerce plan to take next to continue promoting trade development with Central Asian countries?

In response, He Yongqian, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, introduced that by 2025, under the guidance of the head of state's diplomatic strategy, China's economic and trade cooperation with Central Asia has achieved fruitful results, with goods trade breaking through the $100 billion mark for the first time, reaching $106.3 billion. China has become the largest trading partner of Central Asian countries. Specifically, in 2025, the trade of goods between China and Central Asia will exhibit the following characteristics:

Firstly, the growth momentum remains strong. Trade in goods increased by 12% year-on-year, with imports and exports moving in the same direction, with growth rates reaching 14% and 11% respectively. Central Asia has become one of the fastest-growing regions in China's foreign trade.

Secondly, the trade structure is moving towards novelty and optimization. China's exports to Central Asia are focusing on expanding and developing towards new areas, with mechanical and electrical products accounting for over 55% of exports. The market share of the "new three types" of products is steadily expanding, and imports from Central Asia are stabilizing inventory and improving towards excellence. More and more high-quality characteristic products from Central Asian countries are entering thousands of households in China.

Thirdly, new business models are flourishing. The cross-border e-commerce trade volume reached 800 million US dollars, with a growth rate of over 20%. Both companies actively promote the construction of overseas warehouses and border warehouses, and intensify efforts to expand cross-border payment cooperation. The stable and smooth operation of the China Europe Central Asia freight train has provided strong support for trade development.

The fourth is the integrated development of trade and investment. China and Central Asian countries have actively carried out cooperation in jointly building the "the Belt and Road", and the construction of the China Kyrgyzstan Uzbekistan railway and the trans Caspian international transport corridor has accelerated. A large number of cooperative projects such as automobile assembly, oil and gas chemical industry, and clean energy park construction have been launched one after another, further tapping into the trade potential between the two sides and achieving long-term sustainable development.

Next, the Ministry of Commerce will make every effort to implement the important achievements of the China Central Asia Summit, coordinate and promote the improvement of the quality and efficiency of economic and trade cooperation, promote the establishment of higher-level institutional arrangements, continuously optimize the trade structure, cultivate new forms of trade such as service trade, green trade, and digital trade, promote the integrated development of trade and investment, and continuously inject new momentum into building a closer China Central Asia community with a shared future.