China's eastern port city of Lianyungang has become a strategic trade gateway, with its SCO International Logistics Park driving a surge in intercontinental cargo flows and deepening economic ties between China and Central Asia.
The SCO (Lianyungang) International Logistics Park offers a variety of intermodal transport options, including sea–rail and road–rail connections.
Established in 2015, it has since handled over 300 million tonnes of cargo. Of SCO's 10 member states, four are central Asian countries.
As a flagship project of SCO cooperation, the logistic park plays a key role in boosting trade between China and Central Asia.
"We've been deepening trade ties with Central Asian countries. The park now runs four overseas warehouses in that region. Since 2022, a road-rail route linking China with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan started operation, playing as a key logistics corridor. From January to July this year, it handled 473 trips, up 32.87 percent year on year," said Liu Zhibin, head of Logistics Development at the Management Committee of SCO (Lianyungang) International Logistics Park.
The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan route is a flagship business in the logistic hub. It sends China's manufactured goods to Central Asia through rail domestically and road abroad.
"There's a GM factory in Uzbekistan. All its orders are supplied by various vendors in China. We collect the products from these vendors, package them, and bring them to our warehouse here. We consolidate everything and load them into containers for shipment," said Yan Juan, deputy General Manager of Lianyungang Centrum International Logistics.
As trade grows more complex, the SCO International Logistics Park is becoming not only China's bridge to Central Asia, but also Central Asia's bridge to the world.
China's Lianyungang port rises as key trade hub linking Central Asia to Pacific
Geoeconomic confrontation is the leading short-term global threat in 2026, the World Economic Forum (WEF) warned in its Global Risks Report 2026 released on Wednesday ahead of its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
The report ranks geoeconomic confrontation as the top risk for 2026, followed by interstate conflict, extreme weather, societal polarization, and misinformation and disinformation. It also identifies geoeconomic confrontation as the most severe risk over the next two years.
"I think if there is to be one key takeaway from the report, it's that we are entering an age of competition and this new competitive order is then shaping current global risks, but it is also shaping and to some extent hindering our ability to actually cope with them. That's really the key takeaway. If we take a look at, the number one risk both for 2026 and two years out, it's dual economic confrontation. But then if we look at the risks 10 years out. It's really the climate and environment related risks. All of these things require global cooperation and that's where we're seeing a big backsliding in this new age of competition," said Saadia Zahidi, managing director of the WEF.
Economic risks showed the largest increase in the two-year outlook, with concerns over economic downturns, inflation, rising debt and potential asset bubbles intensifying amid geoeconomic tensions, the report said.
Environmental risks remain the most severe overall, led by extreme weather, biodiversity loss and critical changes to Earth systems. The report noted that three-quarters of respondents expect a turbulent environmental outlook.
Risks related to adverse outcomes of artificial intelligence rose sharply, climbing from 30th in the two-year horizon to fifth in the 10-year outlook, reflecting concerns over impacts on labor markets, society and security.
The 21st edition of the report draws on views from more than 1,300 experts, policymakers and industry leaders.
The WEF's annual meeting will be held in Davos from Jan 19 to 23 and draw nearly 3,000 guests from more than 130 countries and regions to participate.
"So overall, we are starting to see this shift away from what have traditionally been the ways in which people have been able to cooperate. Now, that is not to say that any of this is a foregone conclusion. And I think that's a really important message around the risks report. None of this is set in stone. All of this is in the hands of leaders. Whether they choose to cooperate and invest in resilience or whether they do not. So that's really what we'll be focused on next week in Davos bringing leaders together under this overall theme of 'a spirit of dialogue' and trying to reestablish relationships, cooperation and trust. That's the fundamental," said Zahidi.
WEF warns of rising geoeconomic risks in 2026
