Deepen the fertile soil for cooperation and build regional prosperity together

Sun Weidong, Secretary-General of China-Central Asia Mechanism

Regional cooperation and regional economic integration are important directions and paths for countries around the world to promote economic development, maintain regional stability and achieve common prosperity. At the same time, the regional cooperation process also faces multiple challenges and resistance. Against this background, China actively promotes high-level opening up to the outside world and jointly build the "Belt and Road" with high quality, injecting new impetus into regional cooperation and global sustainable development.

Over the past 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the five Central Asian countries, they have continuously expanded the areas of cooperation and made important contributions to maintaining regional peace, stability and prosperity. In 2020, the "China Five Central Asian Countries" Foreign Ministers Meeting Mechanism was established; in 2023, the first China-Central Asia Summit was successfully held. At the Second China-Central Asia Summit in June this year, the six heads of state jointly established the "China-Central Asia Spirit" and promoted China-Central Asia cooperation to enter a new stage of high-quality development.

The China-Central Asia mechanism has developed rapidly, cooperated practically and achieved many results. Trade volume, investment volume, number of friendly cities, scale of personnel exchanges, and interconnection level have reached historical highs.

China-Central Asia cooperation is radiating to the Eurasian continent and has a positive impact on the development of other regions. The two sides will continue to develop international transportation and logistics channels, promote the construction of China-Europe freight trains, and ensure the stable and smooth flow of the global industrial chain and supply chain. Central Asian countries expand exports to East and Southeast Asian countries through China's railway network and promote cross-regional economic exchanges.

The "China-Central Asia Spirit" provides important guidance for the friendly cooperation between the two sides for generations. The China-Central Asia mechanism will keep pace with the times, continuously expand the connotation of mutually beneficial cooperation, inject more stability and certainty into the turbulent world, and contribute the "China-Central Asia" power to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Smooth logistics channels and optimize business environment

Fu Lei, Executive Vice Minister of the Propaganda Department of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Party Committee and Director of the Autonomous Region Press and Publication Bureau (Copyright Bureau)

Inner Mongolia is located in the northern border of my country and was once an important hub of the "Grassland Silk Road" and the "Tea Ceremony of Thousand Miles". We actively build an important bridgehead for our country's opening up to the north and integrate into the domestic and international dual circulation. We have fully utilized our location advantages and achieved many achievements in port construction. 20 ports undertake a large number of land transportation tasks for Sino-Mongolia and China-Russia trade. The annual overflow volume exceeds 120 million tons, and nearly half of the China-Europe freight trains leave the country here. Exchanges and cooperation with many places have been deepened, and the construction of inland ports has made cargo transportation more convenient.

As an important national agricultural and livestock product production base and an important national energy and strategic resource base, Inner Mongolia is rich in resources. In terms of agricultural and livestock products, the number of important agricultural and livestock products ranks among the top in the country. For example, 1 kilogram of mutton, 1 kilogram of beef, and 6 cups of milk in the country comes from Inner Mongolia. In terms of energy supply, coal supply accounts for 34.5% of the country and power transmission accounts for 16% of the country. Industrial clusters have developed strongly, and 10 key industrial clusters have been formed around new quality productivity. The business environment has been continuously optimized, attracting many business entities. Last year, 164,000 private business entities were added and 190 new foreign-invested enterprises were established.

Inner Mongolia has a vast territory and attaches importance to the construction of regional cooperation platforms. Cross-border economic cooperation zones, border economic cooperation zones and cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones have been built, and the trade volume of countries with countries that jointly build the "Belt and Road" continues to grow. Economic and trade cooperation has been deepened, many activities have been held, active participation in domestic and foreign exhibitions, and the growth of new foreign-invested enterprises has been increased. The "circle of friends" continues to expand, conduct trade with 180 countries and regions, and establish 47 international friendly cities relations.

Enhance communication and interaction and deepen mutual learning in civilization

Liu Ying, member of the Standing Committee of the Hangzhou Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Yuhang District Party Committee of Zhejiang Province

Yuhang, Zhejiang is located in the center of the Yangtze River Delta. It is a new city center in Hangzhou. It has cultural treasures such as the Liangzhu site, which has proven its more than 5,000-year history of China's civilization.

Yuhang connects the "Belt and Road" with the heart of mutual learning between civilizations. Two "Liangzhu Forums" and the third UNESCO International Museum High-level Forum have been successfully held to deepen the dialogue on civilization with countries that jointly build the "Belt and Road" route. At the same time, we will promote the construction of the Liangzhu Cultural Corridor with high standards and vigorously promote the "new three" cultural expressions represented by online literature, online dramas and online games to go overseas. In the first half of this year, the revenue of cultural enterprises above the designated size in the district was nearly 340 billion yuan, an increase of 12%.

Yuhang uses the bridge of scientific and technological innovation to help the "Belt and Road". As the location of Alibaba's global headquarters, Yuhang has accelerated the construction of major science and technology innovation industrial platforms such as Hangzhou Future Science and Technology City, comprehensively built a future industrial system featuring "artificial intelligence embodied intelligence, low-altitude economy, and brain-like intelligence", and promoted the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation. In the first half of this year, the region achieved a regional GDP of 190.58 billion yuan, a growth rate of 7.4%; the added value of the core industries of the digital economy accounted for more than 60% of GDP.

Yuhang integrates into the "Belt and Road" with a win-win attitude. We have carried out the special action of "surplus business going overseas" to support Alibaba, Cainiao Group and other companies to "go global", set up overseas industrial parks in Europe, Central Asia and other regions, and organized more than 100 companies to actively participate in the construction of the "Belt and Road", and obtained nearly 2 billion yuan in intended orders, driving the total import and export volume of the region from January to July to increase by 19.2%.

Based on location advantages and polishing cultural brands

Member of the Standing Committee of Xi'an Municipal Party Committee and Minister of the Propaganda Department of Shaanxi Province Zhu Jiang

Since the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative was proposed, Xi'an, Shaanxi has based on its location advantages to help jointly build the "Belt and Road" high-quality development.

Xi'an has established friendly cities with 25 cities in countries and regions that jointly built the "Belt and Road" and has established friendly exchange cities with 71 cities. The China-Europe Express (Xi'an) has launched more than 30,000 trains, and its core indicators are firmly at the forefront of the country. China Xi'an Kazakhstan Terminal has been completed and put into use, and has two-way interconnected with Kazakhstan Xi'an Terminal, realizing the upgrading of the "hub-to-hub" channel. Xi'an Xianyang International Airport has opened 116 international routes, covering the five Central Asian countries.

During the Spring Festival of 2025, Xi'an, China, Cairo, Egypt, Rome, Italy, and Athens, Greece, jointly lit the lights, and the "Chang'an Lantern Festival" went out again. Launch a series of heartwarming service measures for "Love in Chang'an" large-scale concerts and sports events to create a global influence "Poetry Road Zhongnan, Heart Chang'an" Tang poetry culture brand.

All achievements in Xi'an at the first China-Central Asia Summit have been implemented. The China-Central Asia Mechanism Secretariat was established, the China-Central Asia Industrialists Committee China Joint Secretariat was approved to be established, the Central Asia Park was officially completed and opened in Xi'an, the new site of the China-Kazakhstan Traditional Medicine Center was put into use and opened for clinics, and the "Qinling Workshop" project of Xi'an Vocational and Technical College was completed. Xi'an has become one of the preferred destinations for Central Asia students to study in China, and the first China-Central Asia International Humanities and Tourism Special Train was successfully launched... Pragmatic cooperation has reached a new level, and we will jointly contribute to the high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road".

Building a bridge of understanding and promoting dialogue in civilization

Alexander Kopnov, Vice President of Russia's Tass Club

2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and it is also the 80th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and the founding of the United Nations, which is of great significance. At present, countries jointly building the "Belt and Road" countries, the Eurasian Economic Union, the BRICS countries are building new multipolar dialogue platforms to help diversified development of international relations. In this process, the media plays a key role, and must adhere to the principle of authenticity, report on the results of cooperation, and promote multilateral dialogue.

In 2024, TASS ushered in its 120th anniversary. We have set up journalist stations in 58 countries and contributed in 6 official languages ​​of the United Nations. In the digital age, we actively transform, apply technologies such as artificial intelligence, attach importance to social media operations, and continue to improve the level of in-depth reporting.

Data shows that last year, TASS social media fans increased by 226,000, with a total of more than 4.2 million; the average number of interactions in 2024 was 259 million, with an average monthly viewing volume of 359 million. We cooperate with 108 news agencies in 94 countries and more than 200 media in 103 countries to promote employee exchanges and other projects.

In September 2024, we held the BRICS Media Summit in Moscow, bringing together more than 100 mainstream media leaders to discuss media innovation; in June this year, we hosted the Asia-Pacific News Agency organization conference during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum and was elected Chairman of the Year 2025-2028.

We firmly believe that building a bridge of understanding and promoting dialogue between civilizations is the top priority. We will uphold the concept of "the sea will not refuse water, so it can become great" and make unremitting efforts to build a fair information space.

Adhere to expanding opening up and contribute more strength

Ma Bo, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of Tianjin Municipal Party Committee

Tianjin adheres to the "hard connection" of infrastructure and improves the modern shipping and logistics system. Tianjin Port maintains trade exchanges with more than 500 ports in more than 180 countries and regions, with 148 foreign trade routes. Since the proposal to jointly build the "Belt and Road" initiative, Tianjin has launched more than 5,860 China-Europe (Central Asia) trains, building an efficient logistics channel.

In terms of economic and trade exchanges, Tianjin has deepened the promotion of goods, services and digital trade in countries with the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" countries, and has continuously improved the level of trade facilitation. In 2024, Tianjin's total import and export volume to countries jointly built the "Belt and Road" reached 377.15 billion yuan, accounting for 46% of the city's total import and export volume. Tianjin is also actively participating in projects such as infrastructure construction in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" countries. The China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone has attracted nearly 200 companies to settle in with an investment of about US$3 billion. As of 2024, Tianjin has registered 101 overseas enterprises and institutions in the SCO country, with China's investment reaching US$2.4 billion.

In terms of cultural exchanges, the "Luban Workshop" promoted and implemented by Tianjin has built 25 of its "Luban Workshop" in 23 countries, becoming an international brand of vocational education. In addition, we have also created a number of cultural exchange projects such as "Tianjin Week" to deepen friendly exchanges among the people; coordinate media resources, rely on the Tianjin International Communication Center to carry out diversified reports, and show the high-quality results of jointly building the "Belt and Road".

The 2025 Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit was successfully held in Tianjin, bringing opportunities for Tianjin's high-level opening up. In the future, Tianjin will inherit the spirit of the Silk Road, take culture as the medium, people's livelihood as the end, and media as the window, and contribute more to the high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road".

Strengthen economic and trade exchanges and expand win-win space

Li Yi, member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Yunnan Provincial Department of Commerce

Focusing on promoting high-level opening up, the Yunnan Provincial Department of Commerce actively serves Yunnan to build a radiation center for South Asia and Southeast Asia.

Accelerate the creation of an efficient and convenient portal hub, the Mohan Railway Port has become my country's largest railway port for ASEAN, and the trucks at the Hekou Highway Port have achieved "zero wait" for customs clearance, and the Guanlei Port Port has achieved direct access to the domestic consumer market within 48 hours after Southeast Asian fruit picking. The brand of China-Laos Railway International Freight Train continues to be "new", and the "Lan-Mekong Express " and "Kunming Land Port" have opened up a new international freight channel. From January to July this year, Yunnan Province's agricultural product exports were 10.98 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12%; imports were 22.54 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 32.7%.

To accelerate the upgrading of trade facilitation level, the "Cloud Enterprise Overseas Alliance" organized more than 700 companies to attend more than 140 exhibitions and conferences abroad, providing the "three exemptions and three conveniences" policy measures for the five Mekong countries. The China-South Asia Expo strengthens multilateral and bilateral economic and trade cooperation. The 9th South China Expo attracted 942 overseas enterprises and 1,568 domestic enterprises to participate in the exhibition, and more than 3,000 domestic and foreign buyers participated in the procurement. From January to July this year, Yunnan achieved import and export volume of 153.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7%.

The "Small and US" foreign aid projects continue to convey China's warmth. Yunnan has implemented more than 300 "small and beautiful" people's livelihood assistance projects in 17 countries, created a number of brand projects such as "cross-border ecological demonstration village", undertaken four complete foreign aid projects such as Laos Railway Vocational and Technical College, and undertaken a total of 439 national foreign aid training projects.

"People's Daily" (11th edition, September 25, 2025)

(Editors: Hu Yongqiu, Yang Guangyu)