Summit charts course for shared future

"Together, we will foster a new cooperation paradigm featuring high-level complementarity and mutual benefit," he said.

Looking forward, Xi said that China's relations with the Central Asian countries will "forge ahead like a ship braving all winds and waves", offer new vitality to the development and revitalization of the six countries, and inject strong and positive energy to the peace and stability of the region.

The presidents of the five Central Asian countries spoke highly about the achievements of the summit and the fruitful outcomes of their all-around cooperation with China. They said that China has now become a crucial force for ensuring global security and stability and for promoting scientific, technological and economic development, and cooperation with China is an important factor indispensable for countries' pursuit of sustainable development.

They commended China's policy of friendship and cooperation toward Central Asia, and expressed readiness to keep fully harnessing the strategic and leading role of head-of-state diplomacy, expand and strengthen the Central Asia-China Summit Mechanism, enhance top-level planning and coordination, and deepen their all-around practical cooperation with China.

The six countries officially inaugurated the China-Central Asia Summit Mechanism, with China and Central Asian countries taking turns to host the biennial summit. They agreed that the second China-Central Asia Summit be hosted by Kazakhstan in 2025. The six countries will work to flesh out the mechanism, and establish a permanent secretariat in China.

In an interview with Chinese media following the summit, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang said that the event was "fruitful", as it gave fresh impetus to the deepening of China-Central Asia relations, and in the meantime, it contributed to upholding international fairness and justice.

The six countries agreed to abide by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, firmly uphold multilateralism, resist unilateralism, hegemony and power politics, and strive to promote the democratization of international relations and make the international order and global governance system fairer and more equitable, he said.