The container freighter at Lianyungang Port echoes the whistle of the China-Europe freight train. The "Steel Camel Fleet" carries photovoltaic panels and precision instruments from the Yangtze River to the Gobi in Central Asia; and on the shelves of Jiangsu's supermarkets, the attractive color of Central Asia's dried fruits exudes fragrance, and cotton yarn from Central Asia jumps between the textile machines, injecting a different style into "Made in Jiangsu"... The latest data from Nanjing Customs shows that in the first five months of this year, Jiangsu exported 8.9 billion yuan to the five Central Asian countries, an increase of 21.4% year-on-year.

This year coincides with the 5th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Central Asia mechanism. Under the golden framework of the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative, Jiangsu and Central Asia are ushering in the "golden period" of cooperation.

Build a "Silk Road Golden Bridge" and build a solid foundation for win-win results

Engineering projects are like "steel bars and iron bones", trade circulation is like "digital meridians", and high-level mutual visits and policy implementation turn into "bridge piers", jointly building the "Silk Road Golden Bridge" between Jiangsu and Central Asia. Although Jiangsu and Central Asia are thousands of miles apart, they have achieved the deep integration of "you have me and I have you" with their close industrial ties. The two sides have continued to consolidate the foundation of mutual benefit and win-win with unprecedented depth and breadth.

As the country with the largest population in Central Asia, Uzbekistan is a key hub on the ancient Silk Road. In recent years, it has accelerated the industrialization process and frequently "handed" with Jiangsu to carry out pragmatic cooperation.

From the construction of the new city of Samarkand to the heavy machinery of the Almarek copper ore dressing plant...XCMG equipment has become the "standard" infrastructure for the industrialization process in Central Asia. "In Uzbekistan, XCMG equipment is present in almost all large-scale projects." Sun Si, the relevant person in charge of XCMG Group's project, proudly introduced that XCMG exported more than 2 billion yuan of Uzbekistan equipment in the past three years, and the number of units in the Uzbekistan market exceeded 8,000 units, forming a close cooperative relationship with many local large-scale engineering construction companies, equipment leasing companies and mining companies.

When Sohao Holdings' cross-border e-commerce orders and platform service data meet in the Central Asia cloud, Jiangsu and Central Asia's "Silk Road Golden Bridge" will also build more "industrial access". In January this year, Soho Holdings Group established an office in Kazakhstan, a "trade station" located in the hinterland of Central Asia, which will assist enterprises across the province and even domestic companies to expand the Central Asian market. "What we build is not only a trading platform, but also a high-speed channel for industrial integration." The project leader introduced that the construction of cross-border e-commerce B2C platform, automobile trading service platform, and the construction of overseas warehouses in Kazakhstan have become the focus of cooperation between the two sides. According to the goal, these cooperations will drive the scale of Soho-Central Asia bilateral trade to US$1 billion within five years.

The deepening of trade and industrial cooperation cannot be separated from the support of institutionalized cooperation. In September 2023, at the China (Jiangsu)-Kazakhstan Economic and Trade Cooperation Exchange Conference, 16 key projects covering new energy, equipment manufacturing, modern agriculture and other aspects were signed, marking the deepening of multi-field cooperation between Jiangsu and the two countries. Just one year later, more than 200 people, including the Director of the Kazakhstan Strategic Planning and Reform Commission, visited Jiangsu in 18 batches, building a smooth platform for deepening local cooperation.

Deepen economic and trade cooperation and enhance connectivity

The long-lasting China-Europe freight train and the freight trucks galloping on the Central Asian continent outline the vigorous picture of trade between Jiangsu and Central Asia.

The Jiangsu (Astana) Import and Export Commodity Exhibition held not long ago is a microcosm of the heated trade between the two sides. More than 60 Jiangsu companies gathered "high-end products" to debut in the capital of Kazakhstan. The textile and clothing, gifts and toys, machinery and equipment, cross-border e-commerce, biomedicine, electronic products, maternal and child products, auto parts, food and beverages and other categories showed the excellent quality and innovative vitality of "Made in Jiangsu", and finally reached a trade and intention of US$120 million.

"Jiangsu Good Goods" have successively "new" in the Central Asian market, and high-quality products from Central Asian regions are constantly enriching the shelves of Jiangsu people. "Last year, 14,800 tons of barley and 2,700 tons of feed wheat flour from Kazakhstan arrived in China on 11 China-Europe freight trains." A relevant person in charge of Sumeida International Technology Trading Co., Ltd. introduced that the group signed a 2024 agricultural product cooperation framework agreement with Kazakhstan Fort LLP, with an import amount of about 500 million yuan. Enterprises use the direct source procurement model to reduce procurement costs, and in the future, they will actively build a full supply chain system for agricultural products of the "Belt and Road" through Kazakhstan's "granary" in the future.

In the Nukus District, Karakar Parkstan, Uzbekistan, in the modern extraction workshop of Jiangsu Tiansheng Pharmaceutical, the machines roared and operated. Local employees wearing work clothes skillfully operated the equipment to convert licorice raw materials into glycyrrhizic acid powder. "We are interested in Uzbekistan's rich licorice resources and decided to invest and build a factory here in 2016." The chairman of Jiangsu Tiansheng Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. introduced. Today, the factory has recruited 110 local employees to work, with an annual output of 500 tons of glycyrrhizic acid powder, an annual output value of about US$10 million, and all products are used for export. There are more than 40 Jiangsu companies like Tiansheng Pharmaceutical that are deeply rooted in Central Asia. They have made significant contributions to local social and economic development through multi-industry chain layout.

Crossing the Gobi Desert and the River and Sea, connecting the East and Central Asia, the China-Europe freight trains are like a speeding "steel dragon", full of enthusiasm for cooperation and opportunities for development. Since the operation of the China-Europe Central Asia train, Jiangsu Central Asia trains have launched more than 14,000 trains, with a full load rate of 100%, and have maintained its position as the main transit channel to Central Asia for a long time.

Tighten the humanistic bond and seek a better new journey together

Cultural exchanges are an important part of cooperation between Jiangsu and Central Asian countries, laying a solid foundation for the development of bilateral relations. In terms of friendly cities construction, Jiangsu and Uzbekistan Tashkent Prefecture officially formed a good relationship in 2025, achieving a "zero breakthrough" for provincial friendly cities in Central Asia; cities such as Lianyungang City, Nanjing City, and Zhenjiang City have established two pairs of friendly cities and ten pairs of friendly exchange relations with Central Asian countries.

Education exchanges and cooperation have opened up new paths for the integration of industry and education, scientific research and innovation, and economic and trade exchanges between Jiangsu and Central Asia. At present, Jiangsu has built 4 Zhenghe Colleges in Central Asia, and many other colleges and universities have carried out inter-school exchanges with Central Asian countries. From 2021 to 2024, various universities have recruited 6,157 Central Asian students. In May this year, the Jiangsu-Central Asia Industry-Education Integration Alliance was established and released the "Blue Book on High-Quality Coordinated Development of China-Central Asia Vocational Education" and the Phoenix International's "Chinese Workshop" series of textbooks.

The mutual communication in the field of people's livelihood is a temperature yardstick for measuring the friendship between Jiangsu and Central Asian countries. Jiangsu uses the "small and beautiful" brand projects as a powerful tool to convey the warmth of cooperation to various fields. Jiangsu has held Uzbekistan youth cadres training courses and Kyrgyzstan's "Xinyou Project" for many years; at the same time, it has promoted the construction of Uzbekistan Traditional Chinese Medicine Center through the form of dispatching traditional Chinese medicine clinics, traditional Chinese medicine training and joint scientific research.

In May 2024, in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the "Water Rhyme Jiangsu" cultural and tourism promotion conference played a moving music of cultural exchanges, attracting the attention of many local people. Since then, exchanges between Jiangsu and Kazakhstan have continued to heat up. Jiangsu has invited delegations of mainstream Kazakhstan media to visit Jiangsu many times to enhance mutual understanding between the two sides. In September 2024, Kazakhstan organized a group to participate in the 6th Grand Canal Cultural Tourism Expo and cooperated with the Provincial Art Gallery to hold the "Jiangsu-Kazakhstan Characteristic Art Works Exhibition" to exhibit characteristic art works and deepen cultural exchanges between the two places.

Central Asia is the first place to promote the "Belt and Road" initiative and is also a pilot area for high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road". Sun Yi, director of the Provincial Foreign Affairs Office, said that Jiangsu will take the initiative to connect and seize the opportunity to fully implement the results of the Second China-Central Asia Summit and the "Jiangsu Province Action Plan for Promoting Exchanges and Cooperation with Central Asian Countries", accelerate the construction of international friendly cities, implement a number of people-friendly projects such as the China (Jiangsu)-Uzbekistan Traditional Chinese Medicine Center and the "Xinyou Project", improve the quality and efficiency of the operation of the China-Europe (Asia) train, and create a number of landmark projects such as the Jiangsu-Central Asia Center, and contribute to the construction of a closer China-Central Asia Community of shared future.