In 2016, MOFCOM comprehensively implemented the spirits of the 18th National Peoples Congress and the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Plenary Sessions of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, profoundly learned and carried out the spirit of the series of speeches of the General Secretary Xi Jinping, further deepened the trade and economic cooperation with Eurasian regions and countries according to the unified deployment of the Central Party Committee and the State Council, and strongly promoted the construction of the "Belt and Road" with positive progress made.
Bilateral high-level exchange was frequent and rich achievement had been obtained. In 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Uzbekistan and attended the Summit of Heads of States organized by the SCO. Premier Li Keqiang visited Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and attended the Premiers Conference organized by the SCO. Presidents of Russia, the Republic of Belarus and Kazakhstan visited China. China held dozens of bilateral meetings at the G20 Leaders Summit, the Informal Leaders Meeting of the APEC, China-Central and Eastern Europe Leaders Conference. The top-level design and high-level guidance promoted the continuous deepening of the bilateral practical cooperation and enabled the trade and economic practical cooperation to be the "ballast stone" and "thruster" of the development of bilateral relationship.
The bilateral trade between China and the countries along the line of the "Belt and Road" is stabler and better. In January-November, the trade volume between China and 12 Eurasian countries reached US$98.459 billion. The China-Russia trade realized growth. The trade amplification between China and Armenia, Kyrghyzstan and Azerbaijian exceeded or got close to 20%. China continued to maintain the status of the major partner in this region. The trade structure was constantly improved, e-commerce enjoyed prosperous development and many kinds of agricultural products realized mutual access.
The progress of major projects obviously benefited the local people. China-Russia Tongjiang railway bridge has been in construction and is estimated to be completed in 2018. The railway tunnel undertaken by Chinese enterprises in YZ has been open to traffic; the former President of UZ said that it realized the several generations dream in Fergana. The transmission and distribution project in Kyrghyzstan helped the independence of energy. The thermal power plant project in Tajikistan solved winter heating problem of residents. The construction of China-Belarus Industry Park was accelerated, obviously driving employment.
The institutional construction of regional trade and economic cooperation obtained substantive results.China-Georgia free trade negotiation was completed, realizing the zero breakthrough of Chinas network layout in Eurasian free trade zone. The feasibility research of China-Moldova free trade negotiation was launched. The new investment protection agreement between China and KZ started negotiation. The first round of trade and economic cooperation agreement negotiation of China-Eurasian Economic Union has been successfully completed and both sides reached consensuses on formulating docking cooperation project list of the "Belt and Road" and the construction of Eurasian Economic Union. The regional economic cooperation issues of the SCO were constantly deepened, the Premiers Conference approved the List of Measures on Further Promoting Project Cooperation by the SCO in 2017-2021, and a new system was established by the trade facilitation working group. These laid a solid foundation for deepening cooperation.
Financial cooperation was constantly deepened. The AIIB, Silk Road Fund and China-Eurasia Economic Cooperation Fund are carrying out project selection. China-KZ Capacity Cooperation Fund was officially set up. China signed many cooperation agreements with financial and insurance institutions of Eurasian regions and countries and provided strong support for the implementation of bilateral major projects.
2017 marks a significant year of the implementation of the "13th Five-Year" plan, as well as a year of deepening the structural reform of supply side. MOFCOM will carefully implement the spirit of the 6th plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, positively promote the sound and stable development of trade and economic cooperation between China and Eurasian regions and countries, benefit the peoples of all countries and embrace the successful convening of the 19th National Peoples Congress with brilliant achievements.
