Citizens of Central Asian countries present distinctive products from their home countries at the China–Central Asia Trade Facilitation Cooperation Platform in Nanjing, the administrative center of Jiangsu Province in eastern China. Photo provided by Jiangsu SOHO Holdings Group Co., Ltd
A large-scale trade and exhibition platform under the China–Central Asia format has begun operating in Nanjing, the administrative center of Jiangsu Province in eastern China. The platform is rapidly becoming an important bridge between the Chinese market and Central Asian economies, showcasing distinctive products from the region – including dried camel milk from Kazakhstan, honey from Kyrgyzstan, and silk products from Uzbekistan, DKNews.kz reports.
The cooperation platform for facilitating unimpeded trade is located in a modern trade and exhibition center covering an area of 23,000 square meters. It brings together an exhibition hall, national pavilions of all five Central Asian countries, product demonstration zones, trade representations of Central Asian states and other Belt and Road participants, as well as office space for enterprises and organizations with foreign capital.
A “universal living room” for business
The platform operates under an innovative model: products are showcased in Nanjing, while warehouse facilities are located in China’s border regions. Its activities cover the entire country. As a result, the platform has effectively become a “universal living room” for business, helping Chinese and Central Asian companies find partners, hold negotiations, sign contracts, and build logistics chains.
According to Askar Dairov, Permanent Representative of the Trade Policy Development Center QazTrade and QazExportPromotion in Nanjing, the platform functions as a kind of “router” that directly connects Kazakh exporters, Chinese importers, and logistics service providers.
From an idea to hundreds of millions of dollars in deals
The China–Central Asia trade facilitation platform was officially launched in 2025 during the second China–Central Asia Summit. Its predecessor was the Central Asia Countries Center in Jiangsu Province, established in September 2024 by Jiangsu SOHO Holdings Group in cooperation with the government of Xuanwu District in Nanjing.
According to the platform operator, SOHO Asia-Europe Connectivity Technology (Nanjing) Co., Ltd., the platform has already attracted 34 institutions and enterprises, including QazTrade. Preliminary import and export orders for agricultural products, mineral resources, and used vehicles agreed through the platform have reached hundreds of millions of US dollars, helping nearly 600 Chinese companies expand their development opportunities.
In particular, during the Jiangsu Province Import and Export Commodity Exhibition held in Astana in 2025 with the participation of the platform, agreements totaling 120 million US dollars were signed.
The photo shows the building of the China–Central Asia Trade Facilitation Cooperation Platform in Nanjing, the administrative center of Jiangsu Province in eastern China. Photo provided by Jiangsu SOHO Holdings Group Co., Ltd
E-commerce and the “Silk Road in the cloud”
In addition to offline trade, the platform actively provides e-commerce services. Products from Central Asian enterprises are entering the Chinese market through digital channels, while consumers in Central Asia are gaining new access to high-quality Chinese goods.
The Silk Road e-commerce platform “soho cloud,” created by Jiangsu SOHO Holdings Group, has already brought together more than 550 companies. The goal is to increase this number to over 1,000 by 2026.
Trade volumes hit record highs
The economic impact of the platform is already reflected in trade statistics. From January to November 2025, trade turnover between Jiangsu Province – one of China’s major regional economies – and the five Central Asian countries reached 31.36 billion yuan (approximately 4.5 billion US dollars), an increase of 9.6 percent compared to the same period in 2024. Over the same period, Jiangsu SOHO Holdings Group’s total foreign trade with Central Asia grew by 12.1 percent year-on-year.
According to the latest data from China’s Ministry of Commerce, total trade between China and Central Asia reached 106.3 billion US dollars in 2025, up 12 percent year-on-year. For the first time in history, trade turnover exceeded the 100 billion dollar mark, with China becoming the largest trading partner of Central Asian countries.
What comes next
China’s Ministry of Commerce has emphasized that the launch of the China–Central Asia trade facilitation platform, alongside the rapid growth of cross-border e-commerce, continued construction of warehouse and logistics infrastructure, and the development of cross-border payment cooperation, is expanding opportunities for new business models in trade and economic cooperation between China and Central Asia.
Looking ahead, the platform plans to regularly host the Jiangsu Province Import and Export Commodity Exhibition for Central Asia, accelerate the construction of the Jiangsu Center in Central Asia located in Astana, deepen cooperation in industrial value chains, and promote humanitarian exchanges between China and Central Asia.
In essence, the platform is not just a trade venue, but a new model of economic interaction that could significantly reshape Central Asia’s role in Eurasian trade.
