Cross-border market opportunities beckon

Green bond

Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Co Ltd, a Zhengzhou, Henan province-based bus maker, said it will supply 800 new energy buses to improve public transport in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, within the year, as green development remains high on the Uzbek government's agenda.

The order, for 300 electric buses and 500 compressed natural gas ones, is the largest of its kind from Uzbekistan for Chinese buses, the company said.

Li Haifeng, a senior executive at the company's overseas business unit, said Tashkent purchased 20 of Yutong's new energy buses in early 2022 after a two-year comparison of models from major bus makers around the world.

The fleet, which has been operational in the Uzbek capital for more than a year, has won the approval of passengers thanks to its safe, green and cost-efficient operation.

Yutong said its global cumulative exports stand at around 86,000 buses, of which 68,000 were sold in countries involved in the BRI.

State Power Investment Corp, a Beijing-based State-owned enterprise, has also been heading in the direction of green development. The company said in May that its 206 megawatt wind power project in Akmola region of Kazakhstan is expected to be fully operational by October this year. It will become the largest wind power project cluster in Kazakhstan.

The project will benefit residents in the region, greatly strengthen local power supply capacity and help transform the energy infrastructure in Kazakhstan, said Chen Yan, director of SPIC's overseas business unit.

Benedikt Sobotka, chief executive of Eurasian Resources Group, in which the Kazakh government holds a 40 percent stake, said his company has strong ties with Chinese stakeholders, with a significant portfolio of joint ventures. China is also a highly important strategic market and key sales destination for the group, accounting for more than one-third of its total sales volume, Sobotka said.

The BRI enables greater access to markets across Central and East Asia, allows for increased trade volumes, and more effectively connects Central Asian countries with global markets, further enhancing trade and prosperity, he said.

China and Central Asian countries have also planned and implemented multiple infrastructure projects within the framework of the BRI.

China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation on the Kyrgyz section of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway last year, making significant headway in the construction of a transport corridor on the Eurasian continent.

The China-Europe freight train service and the China-Kazakhstan International Logistics Base in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu province, will also play a pivotal role in facilitating Central Asian countries' access to foreign markets, said Zhou Zhicheng, a researcher at the Beijing-based China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.