Premier Li's visit to Kyrgyzstan to further promote bilateral trade

Premier Li Keqiang is paying his official visit to Kyrgyzstan, an important tour to consolidate bilateral relations.

Last year, Premier Li held talks with then-Prime Minister Temir Sariyev in Beijing, and ironed out a number of cooperative documents on finance, culture and energy.

In recent years, two-way trade between China and Kyrgyzstan maintained stable growth. According to statistics from the National Statistical Commission of Kyrgyzstan, trade volume between the two countries reached $993 million from January to August in 2016, up by 70 percent year on year.

Despite the overall decline of Kyrgyzstan’s import and export, trade between China and Kyrgyzstan is growing on all fronts.

Two-way trade between China and Kyrgyzstan accounted for 30.6 percent of the nation’s overall foreign trade, and import from China contributed 38.5 percent to its total imports. As the top trade partner of Kyrgyzstan, China is also the largest source of imports in the nation.

From January to June, China, the second investor in Kyrgyzstan, invested $106 million in the nation, up by more than 700 percent.

As Foreign Minister of Kyrgyzstan Erlan Abdyldayev said in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, bilateral trade between China and Kyrgyzstan plays an important role in Kyrgyzstan’s foreign trade. The two nations have also worked together successfully in traffic, energy, and mining projects.

China supports Kyrgyzstan’s proposal to move Chinese enterprises with excessive production capacity to the nation, and Kyrgyzstan will provide a cooperation list for China, which will include about 40 projects.

Meanwhile, China will expand imports from Kyrgyzstan, open the market for farm and processed products, and reduce potential barriers, providing opportunities for enterprises from Kyrgyzstan.