Published on: 2026-07-05
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –
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Beijing, July 5 /Xinhua/ — More than two thousand years ago, the Great Silk Road united peoples, cultures, and economies. Today, we face no less ambitious a task — to build the Digital Silk Road of the 21st century. A route along which not only goods will move, but knowledge, technology, innovation, investment, and new ideas, said the head of the G-Global International Secretariat, Serik Nugerbekov, at the International Forum on Digital Cooperation with Central Asia.
The forum is an important part of the Global Conference on Digital Economy 2026 taking place this week in Beijing. Its goal is to create a platform for interaction between the governments and businesses of Central Asian countries, the implementation of joint projects and technical exchange, to showcase achievements in digital development, and to unify opinions on the industry’s development.
Representatives of government agencies, enterprises, and innovative structures from China and Central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, participated in the forum. The participants shared achievements and discussed challenges in the development of the digital economy in their countries, and also expressed a sincere desire to jointly build the “Digital Silk Road” with China and promote sustainable development in Central Asia.
Being a key hub point on the Silk Road and the geographic hub of Eurasia, Central Asia is becoming one of the regions with the fastest-growing digital economies in the world. “The digital economy of Central Asia has already entered a period of rapid growth,” said Yu Jing, Secretary General of the Global Alliance of Cities for the Digital Economy, at the forum.
According to her, the information and communication technology market of Central Asian countries has shown rapid growth in recent years, with average annual growth rates significantly exceeding global averages. Central Asia is rapidly transforming from a traditional digital consumption market into a regional digital industry hub, thereby opening up enormous opportunities for expanding investments and cooperation.
The year 2026 has been declared the Year of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence in Kazakhstan, with the country tasked to fully transition government administration to a digital format within three years, noted Yerzhan Aktaev, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Public Services of the Ministry of AI and Digital Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Today, China is one of the world leaders in the field of digital economy and artificial intelligence, and Kazakhstan, in turn, is confidently advancing along the path of developing a digital state and creating modern digital infrastructure, said E. Aktaev, adding that the partnership between China and the Central Asian countries is strategic in nature.
According to S. Nugerbeko, China today is demonstrating to the world how digital technologies can transform public administration, industry, transport, education, and the daily lives of millions of people. For Kazakhstan, cooperation with China in the field of the digital economy is not just one of the directions of international interaction. It is the joint formation of a new development model for Eurasia, he stated.
A specialist from the State Unitary Enterprise “Tadzhinvest” of the Republic of Tajikistan, Jamal Giesov, stated that China has become a world leader in the field of digital infrastructure, smart cities, cross-border electronic commerce, and innovations in financial technologies. According to him, in the course of future cooperation between Tajikistan and China, attention should be focused on areas such as digital investment platforms, cross-border data connectivity, intelligent project management systems, and the simplification of digital trade procedures.
Computing power is becoming a new type of regional infrastructure. China and Central Asian countries can explore the possibility of mutually complementary investments in green data centers, cloud platforms, and high-performance computing, emphasized the director of the Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation Institute (CAREC), Charymuhammet Shalliev, adding that countries should jointly use computing power, consolidate demand, and improve energy efficiency, as well as incorporate digital connectivity into the planning of transport, energy, and economic corridors of Central Asia to accelerate the advancement of regional digital integration.
The forum is organized by the Center for International Cooperation “Golden Silk Road Bridge.” Its founder, Yao Sai, announced that the Center has now created a digital platform “Golden Silk Road Bridge for Entry into Foreign Markets,” which, based on big data analysis, allows for the rapid selection of Kazakhstani partners with the highest compatibility degree with Chinese enterprises, providing export-oriented companies with a full package of services in over 80 areas, including customs clearance, legal and tax support. In the future, it is planned to expand this service to other Central Asian countries.
Yao Sai also noted that based on digital cooperation, the Center will in the future focus on implementing Chinese projects in areas such as intelligent agriculture, digitalization of the mining industry, and smart government services, taking into account the local conditions of each Central Asian country. He believes that the “digital bridge” will transform the region into a community of the digital economy based on connectivity and shared prosperity.
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