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 Turkmenistan’s vice-president, on the sidelines of the China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Chengdu, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Wang also said China was 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 on Sunday, was also attended by the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, Central Asian partners that are growing in importance for China.
Wang also met Jeenbek Kulubaev, the Foreign Minister of Kyrgyzstan, a key player in an US$8 billion rail project that starts in Kashgar in Xinjiang and goes through southwest Kyrgyzstan before ending in Andijan in eastern Uzbekistan.
The rail project is designed to cut the freight journey between China and Europe by 900km (560 miles), serving as a faster and cheaper alternative to existing China-Europe land routes, most of which pass through Russia.
The project was first proposed in the 1990s but had been beset 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 Nepalese counterpart Arzu Rana Deuba on Friday.
Deuba was visiting to prepare for the visit of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, which starts on Monday.
Foreign ministers Wang Yi and Rashid Meredov at the meeting in Chengdu. Photo: Xinhua alt=Foreign ministers Wang Yi and Rashid Meredov at the meeting in Chengdu. Photo: Xinhua>
According to the Nepalese foreign ministry, the talks focused on trade, tourism and connectivity projects – including a cross-border railway project and a tunnel linking the capital Kathmandu to Chhahare in Nuwakot district, a stop on a major trade route between the two countries.
“China is ready to work with Nepal to embrace new prospects for the development of China-Nepal relations by taking the opportunity of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties next year,” Wang said, adding that the two sides had made joint efforts to promote cooperation.
Deuba said Nepal appreciated the concept of building a community with a shared future for humanity, and was willing to take part in President Xi Jinping’s Global Development Initiative.