Construction Work on Super Railway Between China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan underway

Work on the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan maxi-railroad will begin December 27. This was announced by the Minister of Transport and Communications of the Kyrgyz Republic Absattar Syrgabaev during the signing ceremony of the investment agreement on the project implementation, which took place in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, one of the five former Soviet republics of Central Asia. The implementation of the project will be entrusted to a specially established China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway company.

The new railroad will be an integral part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), known as the New Silk Road, i.e. a new transportation corridor that will connect China to Central Asia, the Caucasus, Turkey, and Europe.

China is seeking to expand cooperation with the countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the BRICS group. In this context, Beijing said that “with the agreement on the participation of the group’s partner countries in BRICS activities, BRICS cooperation reaches a new level.” As Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning (pictured) said, referring to the list of partners agreed upon in October by member states during the last BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, “with countries joining the BRICS family as partners, cooperation within the group is reaching a new level, the BRICS mechanism is becoming more represented, and BRICS is seeing a more obvious growth in its attractiveness and influence, becoming a major platform for promoting solidarity and cooperation among countries in the global South,” Mao Ning emphasized.

The intergovernmental organization currently includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates, while Saudi Arabia’s full membership status has yet to be confirmed. The list of partner countries includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Uganda. “China is willing to work together with other BRICS members and partner countries to follow the spirit of openness, inclusiveness, and mutually beneficial cooperation, expand practical cooperation in various fields, promote the qualitative development of greater cooperation among BRICS countries and help build a community of common destiny for mankind,” the Chinese diplomatic spokeswoman finally said.