In an interview with Xinhua news agency ahead of his state visit to China, Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov lauded strategic partnership between the two countries and said that China is one of Kyrgyzstan’s main trade and investment partners.
The text of the interview was published on Japarov’s official website.
President Japarov said that Kyrgyzstan deeply values the comprehensive strategic partnership with China. “In recent years, our countries have managed to significantly strengthen trust and build mutually beneficial relations based on strong principles of good neighborliness, friendship and fruitful cooperation,” he said.
Japarov emphasized the significance of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project, the construction of which was launched in Kyrgyzstan on December 27, 2024. In Japarov’s words, this mega-project is fully consistent with the Belt and Road Initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping and confirms the high level of political trust, intending to become a strategic flagship project of our countries, reviving the Great Silk Road of our time. “This route is not just a transport corridor. It will ensure the delivery of goods from China to Kyrgyzstan, as well as to the countries of Central Asia and the Middle East, Turkey, Europe, and beyond. This will allow our goods to reach South and Southeast Asia,” the Kyrgyz leader said.
According to Japarov, China has been and continues to be one of the main trade and investment partners for Kyrgyzstan. In 2024, bilateral trade turnover reached $22.71 billion.
Japarov named key areas of Kyrgyz-Chinese economic cooperation, including agriculture, processing industry, energy, and e-commerce.
He said that Kyrgyzstan and China are working to increase the transit capacity of two border checkpoints — Torugart and Irkeshtam, adding that the opening of the third checkpoint, Bedel, will help to increase the flow of goods from China to Kyrgyzstan and the countries of Central Asia.
Japarov also pointed out Kyrgyzstan’s efforts to increase the export of its environmentally friendly agricultural products to China.
