Chinese premier calls on China, Kyrgyzstan to focus on high-quality Belt and Road cooperation

BISHKEK, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang said here Wednesday that China is ready to work with Kyrgyzstan to give full play to industrial complementarity and expand the scope and scale of economic and trade cooperation with a focus on high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

In his meeting with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Li said Kyrgyzstan is an important neighbor of China, adding that in May, President Xi Jinping and President Japarov lifted bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership for a new era and jointly announced the building of a China-Kyrgyzstan community with a shared future of good neighborliness and shared prosperity, which, as a milestone in the history of bilateral relations, has charted the course for the development of bilateral relations and cooperation.

Li said China stands ready to work with Kyrgyzstan to fully implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, promote greater development of bilateral cooperation in all areas, and build a stronger, more dynamic and effective community of a shared future with Kyrgyzstan to better benefit their people.

The Chinese side, Li said, is willing to deepen political mutual trust with the Kyrgyz side, always firmly support each other on issues concerning each other's core interest, further align their development strategies, deepen the integration of economic benefits, and continue to improve the quality and efficiency of bilateral cooperation.

Li also called on both sides to maintain the stability of the industrial and supply chains, build a multi-dimensional connectivity paradigm, and work for an early start of the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway.

He expects the two sides to enhance cultural and people-to-people exchanges on areas including tourism, women, youth and at the sub-national level, to promote the mutual understanding and amity between their people.

Li also called on the two countries to continue to strengthen anti-terrorism cooperation, so as to jointly safeguard a secure and stable development environment.

The Chinese side is willing to reinforce communication and coordination with the Kyrgyz side on regional and international affairs, speed up the implementation of the outcomes of the China-Central Asia Summit, closely coordinate within such multilateral mechanisms as the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and safeguard the common interest of developing countries and international equity and justice, he added.

For his part, Japarov noted that in May this year, he and Xi reached an important consensus on the development of the comprehensive strategic partnership for a new era between the two countries and the building of a Kyrgyzstan-China community with a shared future.

Adding that bilateral relations have maintained a strong momentum of development, Japarov said the Kyrgyz side firmly supports China on issues concerning China's core interests.

Kyrgyzstan is willing to maintain close exchanges with China at all levels, strengthen good-neighborly friendship, promote the Belt and Road cooperation, and expand cooperation in economy and trade, interconnectivity, and people-to-people exchanges, among other fields, said Japarov.

The Kyrgyz side stands ready to deepen cooperation with China within the framework of China-Central Asia cooperation and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, jointly combat the "three forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism, effectively address traditional and non-traditional security challenges, and promote regional security and development, said Japarov.