Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon arrived in Beijing on Monday to begin a four-day state visit to China at the invitation of President Xi Jinping.
The visit comes after the two leaders met at last year's Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin, as China and Tajikistan continue to deepen cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative and expand bilateral ties in trade, investment and infrastructure connectivity.
China and Tajikistan established diplomatic relations in 1992, and officials from both countries have described bilateral ties as being at their historical best.
Under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, China and Tajikistan have steadily advanced the alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative with Tajikistan's National Development Strategy to 2030.
China has become Tajikistan's largest trading partner and biggest source of investment. Chinese statistics showed bilateral trade exceeded 3.5 billion U.S. dollars in the first 10 months of last year, up nearly 8 percent year on year.
Cooperation in infrastructure, high technology, education and culture, and people-to-people exchanges also continues to expand.
President Xi Jinping paid state visits to Tajikistan in 2014, 2019 and 2024, while Rahmon is a frequent visitor to China, with this marking his 23rd trip to the country.
The two heads of state have maintained close exchanges and strategic communication over the years.
Tajik President arrives in Beijing for state visit
AI-powered factories and wind-assisted cargo ships were among the solutions on display at the 4th China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE), highlighting how innovation is shaping the global green transformation.
The event, which ran from Monday to Friday, featured supply chain exhibitions in digital technology, advanced manufacturing, green agriculture, healthy life, smart vehicle and clean energy, as well as a supply chain service zone.
At the booth of leading solar manufacturer TCL Zhonghuan, a domestically developed AI large model is lifting both crystal pulling efficiency and stability by 20 percent. Trained on massive volumes of historical production data, the system continuously optimizes process parameters, directly boosting green energy output, according to officials.
"We built a vision-enabled AI large model. Trained on historical production data, it continuously optimizes product and process parameters to boost line performance and stability," said Shi Peng, senior manager of informatization of TCL Zhonghuan.
Beyond individual enterprises, the expo highlighted that China's industrial ecosystem is becoming a testbed and launchpad for global low-carbon solutions.
Maersk, the Danish shipping giant, presented an AI-powered logistics planning system first developed in China and now being rolled out worldwide. The tool enables customers to optimize container loading, cutting costs while shrinking carbon footprints.
"This is actually a local innovation in China and then now become global. So, this systems allow customers, for example, to optimize the loading of their containers, improving cost efficiency while lowering carbon emissions," said Silvia Ding, president of Maersk Greater China.
According to Ding, the AI system slashes container planning time from weeks to mere hours, significantly improving supply chain fluidity.
Meanwhile, Airbus, joining the Expo for the second year, displayed a specialized green-powered cargo vessel designed to transport aircraft components.
"Why I put this here is because this vessel has its unique shape with these six columns of rotor sails. This can take advantage of the wind energy. In the real operation, it can reduce as much as 50 percent of carbon emissions," said George Xu, CEO of Airbus China.
As the world's first national-level exhibition focusing on supply chains, the CISCE is an internationally shared public good. First held in 2023, the expo has contributed to building more secure, stable, open and inclusive global industrial and supply chains.
Global green transition solutions take center stage at China supply chain expo
