During their talks in Beijing on January 24th, Chinese president Xi Jinping and his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev upgraded ties between China and Uzbekistan to an “all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership”.
During negotiations the two leaders announced that in recent years a strong breakthrough has been made in bilateral relations, with the strengthening of political dialogue and mutual support on key issues.
The presidents highlighted the growth in mutual trade, as well as economic and investment cooperation, with the volume of Chinese investments in the economy of Uzbekistan having grown fivefold and the number of joint ventures having tripled in recent years.
It was noted that at the end of last year two new solar power plants with a capacity of 1000 megawatts were put into operation in Uzbekistan with the participation of Chinese companies.
Mr Mirziyoyev welcomed new agreements on expanding financial instruments to support investment projects in Uzbekistan, as well as the decision of the Export–Import Bank of China to open a regional office for Central Asia in Tashkent.
The leaders welcomed the intensification of exchanges between the regions of Uzbekistan and the provinces of China. To coordinate cooperation in this direction, they have agreed to establish the Council of Regions of Uzbekistan and China.
The Chinese and Uzbek presidents also emphasized the importance of bringing forward the start of construction work for the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, which is designed to be an important component of the transcontinental transport and transit route as part of the Belt and Road Initiative.
