The trade turnover between China and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan in the first four months of 2023 was more than $25 billion, a 37 percent increase compared to the same period last year, Neytralnyy Turkmenistan newspaper reported on Tuesday.
According to the newspaper, China ranked first in the total trade turnover of Turkmenistan in January-March 2023. The trade turnover increased by 22.7 percent compared to the same period last year.
According to the report, in 2022 the economic turnover between China and the five Central Asian countries was $ 70.2 billion, a record high in history.
As of the end of March 2023, China's direct investment in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan exceeded $15 billion.
In addition, more than 350 billion cubic meters of natural gas were delivered through the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline in January 2023.
The gas from Central Asia is supplied to 25 provinces and autonomous regions of China, as well as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which means it is used by almost 500 million people.
President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov, speaking at the first Central Asia-China Summit in Xi'an, suggested continuing work on new projects involving the supply of Turkmen natural gas to China.