The second “China+Five Central Asian Countries” Think Tank Forum was held online and offline in Beijing from November 8 to 9. The theme of the forum was “China and Central Asia: A New Path to Common Development”. Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, State Councilor and Foreign Minister, and Vladimir Norov, Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan, respectively sent congratulatory letters to the Forum. Li Huilai, Vice President of the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA), attended the forum through video and delivered a speech entitled “Promoting the steady and sustained development of China-Central Asian countries relations in a New Era ”.
In his speech, Vice President Li said that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the five Central Asian countries, which is a milestone. Over the past 30 years, China and the Central Asian countries have always been strategic partners with high mutual trust, cooperative partners based on mutual benefits, security partners who share weal and woe, friendly partners who know each other closely, and coordination partners in international affairs, setting a good example of fostering a new type of national relations. In the new era, the two sides should promote the building of an even closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future, further promote the construction of the Belt and Road, constantly enrich the forms of people-to-people and cultural exchanges, maintain true multilateralism and international fairness and justice, and make new contributions to the steady and sustained development of China-Central Asia relations in the new era.
The Forum was co-organized by the Institute of Russian, Eastern Europe and Central Asia Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Kazakhstan Presidential Institute for Strategic Studies, the Kyrgyzstan Presidential Institute for Strategic Studies, the Tajikistan Presidential Center for Strategic Studies, the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, and the Uzbekistan Presidential Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies. Experts and scholars attending the meeting had in-depth exchanges and discussions on the building of a China-Central Asia community with a shared future, future development and cooperation between China and Central Asian countries, and other issues.