Xi Jinping has arrived in Kazakhstan to attend the second Central Asian summit, which begins on Tuesday, according to the Xinhua news agency. According to their report, the Chinese president's plane was greeted by Kazakh fighter jets, and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev welcomed him at the airport.
In addition to China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are participating in the Central Asian summit. The first meeting in this format took place two years ago in the Chinese city of Xi'an.
The talks will focus on transport, energy, security, the digital economy, and green transition, according to experts quoted by the South China Morning Post. They expect that concrete agreements on investments will be reached at the summit.
The article recalled that China is already the region's largest trading partner: in 2024, bilateral trade reached $94.8 billion, exceeding the previous year by $5.4 billion.
Bloomberg highlighted in its article that geopolitical competition over the region is certainly at stake, as evidenced by the visits of Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni in May and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in April to Kazakhstan, and the meeting between the US and Kazakh foreign ministers a few days ago.
‘China has significantly strengthened its position in Central Asia over the past three years,’ one expert said in the article, assessing China's role. Bloomberg also noted that this is Xi Jinping's third trip to Kazakhstan since 2020, which demonstrates the country's importance.
Al Jazeera pointed out that Kassym-Jomart Tokayev previously served in China and therefore speaks Mandarin well. Kazakhstan's goal can only be to deepen its cooperation with China.
