Shared future

Guo, whose company provides truck delivery services from China to Kazakhstan, and to Eastern Europe, said the better relations between China and Kazakhstan and the implementation of the concept of community with a shared future, benefits companies like his.

"What I understand about a common community is closer people-to-people ties and better mutual understanding," Guo said. As there are more goods delivered between China and Kazakhstan, as well as from China to Europe through the Central Asian country, more Kazakh people know about China and want to visit China, he said.

Guo hailed the cooperation between China and Kazakhstan in multilateral organizations. "China joined the Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods… in 2016, and since the first truck crossed the Sino-Kazakh border in 2018, the new logistics route has become a new bridge connecting China and Central Asia," he said.

WinExpress has been sending more than 100 trucks each month, a number that is expected to double or triple in the coming years, Guo added. "Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and some regional issues, the traditional means of logistics from China to Europe, including shipping, railway and road transportation, have been seriously affected," he said.

More people have started showing interest in China compared with decades ago, said Guo, who visited Central Asia for the first time. As good neighbors, good friends, good partners and good brothers linked by mountains and rivers, China and Kazakhstan have been pushing for closer connectivity by vigorously developing road and railway infrastructure and international land-sea multimodal transportation, he said.

As the two countries enhance relations, cooperation under the BRI has been explored in various fields.

In 2022, the volume of railway cargo between China and Kazakhstan amounted to 23 million tons, up by 20 percent year-on-year. Currently, several China-Europe freight trains are passing through Kazakhstan, making the Central Asian country a transit hub.

Under the framework of the BRI, China and Kazakhstan have been actively cooperating in boosting production capacity and investment, having drawn up a list of 52 projects with a total value worth over $21.2 billion. The cooperation has been expanded to digital, scientific and technology fields.