China is keen to expand energy cooperation with Turkmenistan, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday.
Wang met his counterpart Rashid Meredov, who is also vice president of Turkmenistan, on the sidelines of the China-Central Asia foreign ministers’ meeting in Chengdu, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Wang also said China is willing to further expand the scale of trade and investment cooperation with Turkmenistan and would encourage more Chinese enterprises to invest in the country.
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The meeting, which ends Sunday, was also attended by the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, Central Asian partners that are increasingly important to China.
Wang also met Jeenbek Kulubaev, Kyrgyzstan’s foreign minister, a key player in an $8 billion railway project that starts in Kashgar in Xinjiang and runs through southwestern Kyrgyzstan before ending in Andijan in eastern Uzbekistan.
The railway project is designed to shorten the freight journey between China and Europe by 900 km (560 miles) and serves as a faster and cheaper alternative to existing land routes between China and Europe, most of which pass through Russia.
The project was first proposed in the 1990s but was plagued by a series of technical, political and geopolitical problems before the three countries reached an agreement in June.
While in Chengdu, Wang also met his Nepali counterpart Arzu Rana Deuba on Friday.
Deuba was visiting in preparation for Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s visit, which begins on Monday.
Foreign Ministers Wang Yi and Rashid Meredov during the meeting in Chengdu. Photo: Xinhua alt=Foreign Ministers Wang Yi and Rashid Meredov during the meeting in Chengdu. Photo: Xinhua>
According to Nepal’s Foreign Ministry, the talks focused on trade, tourism and connectivity projects – including a cross-border railway project and a tunnel linking the capital Kathmandu with Chhahare in Nuwakot district, a stop on a key trade route between the two countries .
“China is willing to work with Nepal to embrace new prospects for the development of China-Nepal relations by taking advantage of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties next year,” Wang said, adding that the two parties had made joint efforts. promote cooperation.
Deuba said Nepal appreciated the concept of building a community with a shared future for humanity and was willing to participate in President Xi Jinping’s Global Development Initiative.
