Agricultural products imported from the five Central Asian countries are not only meeting Chinese consumers' demand for diverse foods but also providing economic growth opportunities for these nations.

In the first five months of this year, China's total trade with the five Central Asian countries reached 286.42 billion yuan (around 40 billion U.S. dollars), setting a historical record for the same period.
Among this, imports of agricultural products from these countries amounted to 4.36 billion yuan (around 600 million U.S. dollars), marking a 26.9- percent increase.
Recently, a batch of 1.6 tons of fresh cherries from Uzbekistan passed customs inspection in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province and is set to be sold in surrounding cities such as Hangzhou and Shanghai.
This marks the first shipment of fresh Uzbek cherries imported into Zhejiang Province.
Each year, the months of May to July are the peak season for cherries from Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries to enter the Chinese market, perfectly filling the gap left by the conclusion of the domestic cherry season.
Also in the Yangtze River Delta region, a China-Europe freight train laden with Kazakhstan wheat arrived at the China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) Logistics Cooperation Base in recent days.
As China's first entity project under the Belt and Road Initiative, the base, which was inaugurated in 2014, has provided the world's largest landlocked country, Kazakhstan, with a "gateway" for its goods.
"Since the operation of the China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) Logistics Cooperation Base began, the cumulative volume of China-Europe (Asia) freight trains has exceeded 570,000 TEUs. Currently, over 80 percent of Kazakhstan's consumer goods imported through China and exported mineral products and grains are distributed from here. This has fostered the development of over 20 specialized freight trains for distinctive goods such as auto parts, home appliances, and ferroalloys, significantly promoting connectivity and trade between China and Central Asian countries," said Liu Yunliang, a local customs officer.