China's trade with countries in Central, West and South Asia grows up to $370 bln for 10 years
2012-09-03 16:50:52
Over the past ten years, China' s trade with countries in Central Asia, West Asia and South Asia has surged from $25.4 billion to over $370 billion, growing at an average annual rate of 30.8 percent, Premier of China's State Council Wen Jiabao said in his speech during the opening session of the second China-Eurasia EXPO 2012 on September 2 in Urumqi.
Chinese companies have made direct investment worth $250 billion in Eurasian countries and signed project contracts worth about $470 billion, the Premier said.
West and Central Asian countries are China' s most important partners for energy cooperation, he added. “Our cooperation in this field has expanded from simple import and procurement to both upstream and downstream sectors covering design, prospecting, refining, processing, storage, transport and maintenance. Construction of the grand Eurasia passage is speeding up. The China-Kazakhstan oil and gas pipelines have started operation. The second cross-border railway between China and Kazakhstan has been successfully linked up. The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan highway will be soon launched in full,” Wen Jiabao said.
A multi-dimensional silk road consisting of roads, railways, air flights, communications and oil and gas pipelines is taking shape, he stated.