Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazakhstan to cement Central Asia ties
ASTANA: Chinese President Xi Jinping met Central Asian leaders at a summit in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, his second trip to the region in under a year as Beijing competes with Russia for influence there.
The summit in Astana brings together Xi -- who arrived in the Kazakh capital on Monday -- and the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Under Russia's orbit until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the five countries of Central Asia have courted interest from major powers, including China and the United States since becoming independent.
The region is rich in natural resources and strategically located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia.
In a meeting with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov on Tuesday, Xi called for the two countries to "scale up trade and investment and expand cooperation in emerging sectors", Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.
The two sides should "advance high-quality construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway and foster new drivers of growth in clean energy, green minerals and artificial intelligence", Xi reportedly said.
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