A Serendipitous Project.docVIP

A Serendipitous Project 　　Central Asian countries have shown a high-level interest in China’s initiative of reviving the ancient Silk Road since the plan was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Kazakhstan in September 2013. 　　As an indispensable link between China and the western end of the Eurasian continent on the map of the Silk Road in history， the Central Asian region today is expected to share the benefits of the region’s economic development by participating in the China-proposed Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative. 　　 Beginning moves 　　In history， many ancient cities in the Central Asian region―such as Samarkand， Bukhara and Alma-Ata―thrived due to their respective locations along the old Silk Road route. In a sense， China and Central Asian countries share the same sentiment toward the Silk Road. 　　For this historical reason， governments of Central Asian countries welcome the Chinese initiative to revive the ancient route. Nursultan Nazarbayev， President of Kazakhstan， applauded the initiative when it was first raised by visiting Chinese President Xi in 2013. As a follow-up effort， Kazakhstan and China signed a memorandum of understanding on this initiative in December 2014. 　　Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said in September 2013 that his country would support the initiative and be willing to expand cooperation with China on trade， energy， connectivity， cultural and people-to-people exchanges. 　　In August 2014， Uzbek President Karimov said that his country would like to participate in building the proposed Silk Road Economic Belt and join the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank （AIIB）， as well as accelerate the construction of a railway linking Uzbekistan， Kyrgyzstan and China. 　　In 2014， Tajikistan and Turkmenistan respectively signed a declaration with China， in which they expressed their interest in and commitment to the initiative. 　　Except Turkmenistan， other four Central Asian countries―Kazakhst