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China's "go west" strategy and policy to develop economic cooperation with its neighbors will help forge trade ties with the Central Asian countries, a senior commerce official said yesterday.

"Under the western development strategy, China is to improve the investment climate, open more sectors in the region to foreign investment and encourage more domestic firms to go abroad to carry out economic and technological cooperation with Central Asian nations," said Yi Xiaozhun, vice-minister of commerce.

Yi made the remarks yesterday at the two-day Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Business Development Forum, which ends today.

But the vice-minister did not spell out specific sectors that the Chinese Government will liberalize in the western region.

Initiated by the Asian Development Bank in 1997, the CAREC program aims to improve living standards and reduce poverty in its member states through efficient and effective regional economic collaboration.

CAREC currently groups eight countries China, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

"And China's policy of being active in economic and technical cooperation with its neighbors, which was endorsed in the country's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), will also contribute to develop economic and trade ties with other CAREC member states," Yi said yesterday.

"The implementation of the two strategies will not only promote economic growth in western China," Yi said, "but it will also bring about infinite business opportunities to China's neighboring countries in Central Asia."

Trade volume between China and other CAREC member countries has surged nearly 10-fold from US$1 billion in 1997, when the CAREC initiative was established, to US$9.8 billion in 2005, according to Yi.

Maintaining the strong growth momentum, the figure has amounted to US$8.4 billion in the first eight months of this year, jumping 44 per cent from a year earlier, Yi said.

"At the same time, China's outward investment in other CAREC member countries is also expanding rapidly, with the real investment value totaling more than US$7 billion so far," the vice-minister said at the forum.

Under CAREC, China has already been active in carrying out road construction, coordinating cross-border transport regulations and discussing power trading with other member countries.

China is also considering establishing rail links with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

"The Chinese Government will give continuous attention to Central Asian regional economic cooperation and commit itself to facilitate the creation of a more convenient and open business environment within the region," Yi said.

The CAREC Business Forum is part of the 5th Ministerial Conference on CAREC, which runs from October 18 to 20 in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

(China Daily October 17, 2006)