2023-05-14 11:16
Source: Xinhua News Agency
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The China-Central Asia Summit will be held in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province on May 18-19. President Xi Jinping will preside over the summit. President Tokayev of Kazakhstan, President Zaparov of Kyrgyzstan, President Rahmon of Tajikistan, President Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan and President Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan will be invited to attend the meeting.
For more than 2,000 years, merchants and merchants on the Silk Road have traveled back and forth, connecting the East and the West, and China and Central Asian countries have jointly written magnificent poems of mutual understanding and mutual integration. Today, the two sides have jointly opened up a broader space for cooperation with sincerity and mutual trust, joined hands to create a model of new international relations with equality and mutual benefit, and deepened exchanges and exchanges in various fields.
People from all walks of life in the five Central Asian countries generally look forward to taking this summit as an opportunity to join hands with China to create a better and more brilliant path of cooperation and common development.
Mutual beauty and mutual learning enhance dialogue among civilizations
On September 15, 2022, Samarkand's new International Conference Center welcomed distinguished guests, where President Xi Jinping and Uzbekistan President Mirziyoyev held talks. Among the national gifts presented by the Chinese side to the Ukrainian side was a "miniature model of the historical and cultural relics of the ancient city of Khiva restored by China and Ukraine".
Before the visit, President Xi Jinping specifically mentioned in a signed article published by the Uzbek media: "The project to protect and restore the historical monuments of the ancient city of Khiva launched during my visit to Samarkand in 2013 has been successfully completed, making the ancient city of Khiva more dazzling." ”
This is the ancient city of Khiva in Uzbekistan.
"I would like to give out a bag of gold and only want to see Khiva." An old Central Asian proverb speaks of the historical and cultural value of the ancient city of Khiva. Located in the southwest of Uzbekistan, this thousand-year-old city was once an important meeting place of East and West on the ancient Silk Road and was the first World Heritage Site in Uzbekistan. The city is home to dozens of protected historical and cultural sites, some of which have fallen into disrepair.
Shakir Madaminov, director of the Ichin Kara Inner City Museum in the ancient city of Khiva, said that the Chinese team braved hardships and brought advanced cultural protection concepts and technologies to the ancient city, which was deeply recognized and respected by Ukrainian experts and people, and "we are full of expectations for more cooperation between Ukraine and China."
At the Hassan Murad Kushbegi Mosque, an ancient city in Khiva, Uzbekistan, Chinese cultural relics restorers instructed Ukrainian staff to repair the roof of the mosque.
From the ancient city of Khiva to the ruins of Sazakan and Mingtiepei in Uzbekistan, from the ruins of Rakhat in the ancient city of Issikrat in Kazakhstan to the ruins of Buddhist temples on the west side of the ancient city of Red River in Kyrgyzstan, Chinese and Central Asian archaeologists sincerely cooperate to promote mutual learning and mutual learning between Chinese civilization and Central Asian civilization along the road of "hollowing out" of Zhang Qian in the past.
"Here I have improved my professional skills and access to more advanced equipment and instruments." Bozoltzoda, a sophomore at the Tajik Technical University who is conducting ranging practice at the first Luban workshop training center in Central Asia, said.
At the end of 2022, the first Luban workshop built by China in Central Asia was officially launched in Tajikistan, marking another milestone in the friendly relations between the two sides in the new era.
Tajikistan Luban workshop is jointly built by Tianjin Urban Construction Management Vocational and Technical College and Tajikistan Technical University, with a construction area of 1138 square meters, with urban thermal energy application technology and engineering measurement technology as a cooperative and co-construction major, with two teaching areas of green energy training center and intelligent surveying and mapping training center, equipped with bilingual teaching materials, practical training equipment and information teaching resources.
In the Luban workshop in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, teachers from China explain the practical knowledge of surveying and mapping to students.
Shahriyol Sadulozoda, president of Tajikistan Luban Workshop and vice president of Tajikistan Technical University, said that thanks to the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", under the joint promotion of the leaders of the two countries, the Luban workshop has been able to settle in Tajikistan, promoting civilizational exchanges and educational cooperation, and becoming an example of friendly relations between Tajikistan and China.
Civilizations are enriched by exchanges and developed by mutual learning. Today, when cooperation between China and Central Asia has entered a new era, people-to-people exchanges between the two sides continue to iterate and innovate, and they are full of vitality. For the upcoming China-Central Asia Summit, all circles in Central Asia are full of expectations and hope to inject more impetus into mutual learning between civilizations between the two sides.
"People in the scientific and cultural circles of Uzbekistan generally look forward to the success of the summit." Abdullayev, deputy director of the Center for Scientific Development and Promotion of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, said, "We believe that China's achievements in culture, humanities, education and other fields will directly help the people of Uzbekistan to further strengthen their economic strength." ”
"Scenery" extends the Green Silk Road infinitely
Maksat-Abilgaziev, 33, is a native of Zanatas, a small city in southern Kazakhstan. Zanatas, which means new stone in Kazakh, was once a center for phosphate ore mining and fertilizer production, with a population of 57,000. However, due to the lack of prosperity in the industry, people left the industrial city, and only 22,000 people remained in the city.
In his 30th century, Abirgaziev, a former power engineer at a phosphate mine, made an important decision: to step out of his comfort zone and embrace the "future" – the clean energy represented by wind energy is the future of his home and the country.
According to the United Nations Development Programme, Kazakhstan has a wind power potential of 920 billion kilowatt-hours per year alone, especially in southern Kazakhstan. As a power engineer, Abir Gaziyev is sensitive to the fact that if the wind energy in his hometown is fully utilized, it will greatly change the power landscape here.
This is a wind turbine from the Zanatas wind farm in Kazakhstan.
Under the framework of the "Belt and Road" initiative and Kazakhstan's "Bright Road" new economic policy, China and Kazakhstan took the lead in carrying out production capacity and investment cooperation, forming a list of projects covering 52 projects with a total amount of more than 21.2 billion US dollars. The Zanatas 100 MW wind project is one of them. The project was completed and put into operation in June 2021, making it the largest wind farm in Central Asia at that time.
In 2020, Abirghaziyev quit his job at the phosphate mine and came to the Zanatas wind power project to become a trainee wind power maintenance worker, began to learn wind power maintenance technology with Chinese masters, and has now grown into a senior maintenance engineer who can stand alone, and his salary has more than doubled.
"Chinese friends have brought equipment and investment, technology and experience to Kazakhstan, and also cultivated local talents who are almost blank in Kazakhstan. The wind power project has created jobs and increased tax revenue for the city of Zanatas, ushering in the second spring of urban development. Abir Gaziyev said.
Seeing the increasing green energy cooperation between China and Central Asia, Abir Gaziyev said that he has two wishes: one is to visit the headquarters of Chinese companies, and the other is to participate in more wind power cooperation projects.
Also in Kazakhstan, Kapucha, Almaty Oblast, has a 100 MW photovoltaic power station jointly invested and built by China and Kazakhstan, and China and Kazakhstan have adopted a new model in project cooperation: "China-Kazakhstan cooperative design, Chinese equipment procurement, Kazakhstan's civil construction, China-Kazakhstan cooperative management".
This is the Kapuchagai 100 MW photovoltaic power plant in the Almaty region of Kazakhstan.
This photovoltaic power station has become one of the largest photovoltaic power generation projects in Kazakhstan, and has been included in the "List of Key Projects for Production Capacity and Investment Cooperation between China and Kazakhstan", and its grid-connected operation has achieved a breakthrough in local large-scale new energy power stations from scratch, with an annual power generation capacity of 160 million kWh and a reduction of 160,000 tons of local carbon emissions.
The two projects of wind power in Zanatas and photovoltaic in Capchagay are vivid portrayals of the close cooperation between China and Central Asian countries in the green energy transition. In the face of the increasingly severe global challenge of climate change, China and Central Asia have both consensus and action on green and low-carbon development.
When it comes to China's green energy cooperation with Central Asia, Abir Gaziyev paints a beautiful picture of a future: bluer skies, clearer waters, and humans living on a cleaner planet. It is foreseeable that the China-Central Asia Summit will inject new impetus into deepening green energy cooperation between the two sides.
Hand in hand to create a better future
The village of Migan is located in the south-central part of Lebap Oblast of Turkmenistan, in the heart of the Karakum Desert. The perennial drought and little rain, the high salinity content of the water, poor water quality, and the difficulty of drinking water have always plagued local residents.
In a hurry, it is a blessing. PetroChina (Turkmenistan) Amu Darya Natural Gas Company invested in the construction of the "Migan Village Water Plant" here, and modern water purification facilities brought a pool of clean water to the local people and completely solved the difficulty of drinking water. "Thank you to the Chinese company for helping us build the water plant. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Aunt Mihlai, a villager in Migan Village, said.
Also anxious about "water" was Yevgeny Yakovlev, who lived in the village of Karaoy, Kyrgyzstan. On Yakovlev's four hectares of land, 1,000 cherry, apple and pear trees, as well as clover and barley, he had to queue up at dawn to fetch water.
This is the canal of the village of Karaoyi in Kyrgyzstan after the irrigation project was built with Chinese assistance.
In 2021, the renovation of the irrigation system in Kyrgyzstan was completed, and the irrigation conditions in the three irrigation districts in the states of Lake Issyk-Kul and Batken were greatly improved. The village of Karaoi is located in a new irrigation area with a capacity of 470,000 cubic meters, and water flows to the villagers' fields through five rehabilitated canals. Now, surrounding farmers like Yakovlev no longer have to worry about water shortages for their crops.
Seeing that the land can be irrigated and all kinds of crops can be "fed", Astanbek Zhuendubayev, who is in charge of water distribution, is sincerely grateful for the help from China, "the days will get better and better."
In Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan's capital, a local girl, Kasiyett Azamatovna, is rejoicing in the new road on her doorstep: "This is the only way my sister and I go to school every day." Look at this sidewalk, how smooth! ”
Bishkek has a history of more than 100 years of construction, and many roads are in disrepair and poorly laid out, resulting in severe traffic congestion and inconvenient travel for residents. In October 2016, the first phase of the Bishkek Municipal Road Network Renovation Project, funded by the Chinese government and undertaken by Chinese enterprises such as China Road and Bridge Corporation, was officially launched.
The car drove on the restored Kemanas Avenue on the Chinese side of Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
Potholes are paved with paved asphalt, narrow roads are widened, broken roads that have not been opened to traffic for many years are opened ... When the first phase of the project was completed, a total of 49 streets with a total length of 95.4 kilometers were renovated, greatly improving the travel experience of residents and becoming a well-known "China Road" for local people.
Ulan Uzbayev, deputy director of the Department of Transport and Road Infrastructure Development in the Bishkek mayor's office, said that in addition to high-quality construction, Chinese companies also provide a large number of local jobs and help local people learn a lot of advanced construction technology and experience, "I hope our cooperation will continue for a long time."
Ilya, a citizen of Bishkek, said: "Thank you very much to China for improving the appearance of the city for us. Most importantly, the project is still moving forward, and the future of Bishkek will be even better. ”
Igor, a local resident of Kyrgyzstan, thanked the Chinese road builders for allowing them to enjoy the smooth road.
"Let us proceed from the common well-being of the people of the six countries, continue friendship, promote cooperation, jointly write a better tomorrow for relations between China and Central Asian countries, and jointly promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind." At the video summit held in January 2022 to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the five Central Asian countries, President Xi Jinping put forward a major initiative to jointly build a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future.
"Kazakhstan is willing to work together with China", "Kyrgyzstan is willing to work closely with China", "Turkey supports a series of major initiatives proposed by China", "Raise Tajikistan-China relations to a new level", "will certainly promote the Ukrainian-Chinese comprehensive strategic partnership in the new era to a new height, and continuously benefit the two countries and peoples"... The five heads of state actively responded to President Xi Jinping's initiative, strengthened cooperation with China, and worked together to promote regional stability and prosperity and enhance the well-being of the people.
If the heart has a direction, the road will not be far away. Over the years, the tree of friendship carefully irrigated by China and Central Asian countries has flourished and borne fruit. Looking forward to the future, the two sides will surely write a new chapter of mutual respect, good-neighborliness, mutual benefit, and win-win results, and work together towards a better future.
－END－
Chief planner: Lv Yansong
Director system: Yuan Bingzhong
Curator: Ni Siyi
Executive Producer: Xue Ying
Coordinator: Xie Peng, Han Mo, Yan Junyan
Main author: Zhao Yan
Reporters: Zhang Jiye, Guan Jianwu, Li Ao, Han Liang, Sun Hao, Chen Yin
Editors: Zhang Yuan, Qiao Jihong, Chen Shan, Li Cang, Ding Ying, Liu Pinran, Lin Xiaochun, Chen and Tang De
Photographs: Leo Cai Guodong Ospanov Dmitry Vasilenko Chingis Roman
Produced by the International Department of Xinhua News Agency
Produced by Xinhua News Agency's International Communication Integration Platform