Central Asia-China Summit 2025, Xi ’s initiative for Reviving Silk Road

Central Asia-China Summit 2025, Xi ’s initiative for Reviving Silk Road
Central Asia-China Summit 2025 would enhance mutual understanding between the two peoples, cultivate new bonds with Central Asia, a vital part of Silk Road
By: Muhammad Arif, Editor NSN.Asia
Islamabad: Kazakh capital, Astana, gears up to the second summit, an initiative for Reviving Silk Road, scheduled to take place in from June 16 to 18, 2025.
The framework of Central Asia-China Summit aims to the increase close and dynamic bond between China and Central Asia under the Silk Road Spirit of connectivity, friendly exchanges and cooperation.
Xi’an, China’s longest-serving ancient capital had been the starting point of ancient Silk Road that fostered trade, ideas and cultures.

Building on past achievements under BRI, Chinese president Xi and his Central Asia counterparts will weave tighter threads of trade, security and connectivity across the Eurasian heartland.
Chinese president Xi Jinping will attend summit at the invitation of Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, according to sources of Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Apart from Xi, the presidents of all five Central Asian states are expected to attend the summit.
The summit comes two years after the inaugural Central Asia-China Summit, which took place in May 2023 in Xi’an, China.
On May 29, a tourist train departed from northwest China’s Shaanxi Province for Almaty, Kazakhstan, marking a new step in cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.
The special train service is one of the key outcomes of the first China-Central Asia Summit held in Xi’an in 2023.
“Establishing the China-Central Asia mechanism was a unanimous decision among China and the five Central Asian countries, which dovetails with the region’s common desire to maintain stability and pursue high-quality development, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson stated while highlighting the geostrategic significance of on Central Asia-China Summit.
“It is the first time that the China-Central Asia Summit will be held in a Central Asian country”, Lin said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver a keynote speech at the summit. Together with leaders of the participating Central Asian countries, they will exchange views on the achievements of the China-Central Asia mechanism, mutually beneficial cooperation under the framework, and international and regional hotspot issues, and jointly attend relevant events, Lin said.
During the summit, President Xi will also meet with these leaders and lay out the top-level plan for China’s relations with five Central Asian countries, said the spokesperson.
China Expands Cooperation with Central Asian countries
Geo-political commentators believe that the summit will consolidate strategic stability and inject momentum into China-Central cooperation in a world of turbulence and uncertainty.
Bolat Nurgaliyev, chair of the Board of the Foreign Policy Research Institute under Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expects that the of Xi visit will also provide a strong impetus to elevate the China-Central Asia partnership to new heights.
“We share a common destiny as neighbors, facing similar challenges in political, economic, environmental, climatic, technological, and humanitarian domains. We recognize that combining our efforts is the most effective way to address these issues,” Nurgaliyev told the Global Times on Friday.
Alibek Kuantyrov, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, told the Global Times at a recent forum that he has high expectations for the upcoming China-Central Asia Summit.
“Central Asian countries are deeply engaged in cooperation with China, which is vital as we jointly implement several major initiatives,” he said.
“We are focused on enhancing efficiency, particularly by leveraging Chinese technologies, and we anticipate significant outcomes.” Kuantyrov emphasized the importance of maintaining a stable relationship with China, Kazakhstan’s neighbor, to navigate external geopolitical risks and changes effectively.
The Central Asia-China relationship is reaching a new level, said State Counsellor of Kazakhstan Erlan Karin during the fifth Forum of Analytical Centers focused on new horizons of regional partnership on June 3 in Astana, The Astana Times reported.
Forum participants acknowledged that, despite global turbulence, good-neighborly relations between China and Central Asia continue to strengthen, as they discuss a wide range of topics including regional cooperation strategy, the development of transit and economic hubs, and collaboration in digitalization, artificial intelligence, and innovation ecosystems.

China-Central Asia Summit
The China-Central Asia Summit was initiated in 2023. On the morning of May 19, 2023, President Xi chaired the inaugural China-Central Asia Summit in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province and delivered a keynote speech entitled “Working Together for a China-Central Asia Community with a Shared Future Featuring Mutual Assistance, Common Development, Universal Security and Everlasting Friendship,” according to a press release from the Chinese Foreign Ministry at the time.
In an amicable atmosphere, Xi and the presidents of the five Central Asian countries reviewed the history of friendly exchanges between China and the five Central Asian countries, took stock of the cooperation experience in various fields, and envisioned future cooperation directions. With the future in mind, they agreed to work together for an even closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future.
President Xi signed with the presidents of the five Central Asian countries the Xi’an Declaration of the China-Central Asia Summit and adopted the List of Outcomes of the China-Central Asia Summit.
Chinese President Xi sees in the Central Asia an important partner in modern-day Belt and Road cooperation, so his vision, policy framework, and connectivity projects focus on the revival of the ancient Silk Road that witnessed robust trade and cultural exchanges between China and Central Asia some 2000 years.
Initiative of the Silk Road Economic Belt
Back in September 2013, also in Astana, Xi Jinping delivered a landmark speech at Nazarbayev University, where he first laid out his vision for building the Silk Road Economic Belt — a key component of the BRI.
“We can actively discuss the best way to improve cross-border transportation infrastructure,” Xi said, “and work toward a transportation network connecting East Asia, West Asia and South Asia to facilitate economic development and travel in the region”, he emphasized.
Launch of China-Europe Trans-Caspian Express Route
In July 2024 in Astana, Chinese President Xi launched China-Europe Trans-Caspian Express Route, a vibrant artery of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), to accelerate multidimensional connectivity network, integrating highways, railways, airlines and pipelines, to better link Asia with Europe via the Caspian Sea.

It is hoped that the China-Central Asia cooperation mechanism, will foster mutual learning among civilizations in today’s complex international environment, and will be provide to enhance the institutionalized people-to-people exchanges, and will inject valuable cultural momentum into initiatives of cooperation and connectivity promoting shared development of mankind.