During his working visit to China, Abdulaziz Akulov, Chairman of the Uzbek Tourism Committee, held a discussion with Lei Hongchen, Deputy General Manager of the the Silk Road Fund. The two sides conducted in-depth consultations on the broad prospects of deepening practical cooperation in tourism and infrastructure. Both sides agreed on the importance of jointly building major investment projects under the the Belt and Road framework, focusing on docking the construction of the China Kyrgyzstan Uzbekistan Railway, and promoting the implementation of joint energy projects in cooperation with ACWA Power Company.

They talked about the financial support of the the Silk Road Fund for the Samarkand Tourism Center project. The tourism center is currently a leading conference, exhibition, cultural and tourism platform in Central Asia, regularly hosting various high-end events such as international summits, United Nations tourism and UNESCO conferences, and large-scale business forums. During the discussion, the Ukrainian side proposed a plan for the construction of a tourism corridor, with a focus on discussing the construction projects of modern supporting service centers for the two routes from Andijan to Karakalpakstan and from Tashkent to Termez. Both parties have discussed the introduction of advanced experience in China's road infrastructure construction to assist Uzbekistan in improving its tourism supporting services, optimizing and improving its regional transportation and logistics system, and providing solutions. Keywords: the Belt and Road news, Uzbekistan, tourism

After the meeting, both sides expressed that high-quality development of the tourism industry can effectively promote personnel exchanges, capital circulation, and exchange of goods and services, further consolidating the foundation of cultural exchanges and economic and trade cooperation between China and Ukraine.Editor/Gong Ziwei