Trust drives Sino-Kyrgyz cooperation, envoy says

Political trust and regular high-level exchanges have created favorable conditions for Kyrgyzstan and China to deepen practical cooperation in transport, trade, energy and emerging technologies, said Aktilek Musaeva, the ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to China.

"Kyrgyz-Chinese relations are currently at a very high level and are characterized by sustained political dialogue, mutual trust and dynamic development across virtually all areas," Musaeva said in a written interview with China Daily as President Xi Jinping arrived in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, on Sunday and kicked off his third visit to the Central Asian country.

"The main driver of this dynamic is, above all, the political will of the leaders of the two countries and regular dialogue at the highest and senior levels," she said, adding that political trust had provided the conditions needed to implement large-scale projects and steadily expand cooperation.

China is one of Kyrgyzstan's most important trade and investment partners, Musaeva said. According to Chinese statistics, bilateral trade reached a record $27.2 billion in 2025.

"For us, however, it is important not only to increase the overall figures, but also to make trade more balanced and create greater opportunities for Kyrgyz producers and exporters," she said.

Transportation connectivity occupies a particularly important place in bilateral cooperation. Musaeva said the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway is of strategic importance not only to the three countries involved, but also to the wider region.

"This is not simply a transport project," the ambassador said. "We see the future railway as a new economic corridor that can expand trade links, reduce cargo delivery times and create new opportunities for Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian countries."

She also highlighted efforts to improve border crossings and expand agricultural trade. Kyrgyzstan wants to develop processing, generate greater added value and establish joint production chains rather than simply export raw materials, she said.

Artificial intelligence is another emerging area of cooperation. Kyrgyzstan, one of the founding members of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, hopes that the organization will become a practical platform for sharing experience, technology and expertise, she said.

"For Kyrgyzstan, it is particularly important that the development of artificial intelligence should not create a new technological divide between countries," Musaeva said. "On the contrary, new technologies should help narrow development gaps and make modern services more accessible."

Musaeva said Kyrgyzstan is interested in working with China on specialist training, scientific research, computing capacity and practical AI applications.

As Kyrgyzstan is to host the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit 2026, Musaeva said the development of the SCO over the past 25 years had produced a distinctive cooperation model based on the Shanghai Spirit, featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for the diversity of civilizations, and pursuit of common development.

While regional security remains a key priority, the SCO has expanded into economic, transport, energy, digital, environmental and humanitarian cooperation.

"I see this combination of security and development as one of the SCO's greatest strengths," the ambassador said.

Musaeva said Kyrgyzstan expected the summit to further strengthen the SCO's role as an effective and influential international organization, with attention to security, connectivity, trade and investment, digital transformation, and energy, food and environmental security.

China has played an important role in the SCO's development by helping to build its institutional framework and advance practical cooperation among member states, she added.

"At a time of growing global instability, approaches aimed not at dividing countries but at finding common responses to shared challenges are becoming increasingly important," she said.

Musaeva also spoke positively of the four global initiatives proposed by Xi, saying that they shared an emphasis on strengthening dialogue, mutual respect and international cooperation.

Having lived and worked in China for more than 15 years, as well as visiting almost all of its provinces and regions, Musaeva said that she had been particularly impressed by the country's ability to combine scale with attention to detail.

"At the same time, in my view, the most important lesson of China's modernization is not any single technological achievement. It is the systematic approach," she said.

She added that while Kyrgyzstan could not simply copy another country's experience, it could study China's experience, identify solutions that had worked under particular circumstances and adapt the most useful ones to its own realities.

zhaojia@chinadaily.com.cn