Companies seek closer ties at China-Kyrgyzstan business forum in Bishkek

Over 100 Chinese entrepreneurs led by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) attended an investment business forum on Friday in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, pledging to strive for more fruits in China-Kyrgyzstan business cooperation.

This forum took place ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit.

The forum was jointly hosted by the CCPIT, the Kyrgyz National Investment Agency, and the Kyrgyz Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Over 300 representatives from Chinese and Kyrgyz government departments, corporations, research and academic institutions, and media organizations attended the event .

While delivering a speech to the forum, Ren Hongbin, chairman of the CCPIT, said that the CCPIT organized this visit to Kyrgyzstan with over 100 entrepreneurs and co-hosted the forum to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and promote more practical results in cooperation between Chinese and Kyrgyz enterprises. The CCPIT is willing to play an active role as a bridge and organize more targeted trade promotion activities to support enterprises on both sides in developing new growth points such as service trade, digital trade, and cross-border e-commerce.

Ren said more Kyrgyz enterprises and institutions will be invited to the China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) to continuously strengthen the precise matching of production and supply chains and stimulate new momentum for production and supply chain cooperation. The CCPIT will also deepen cooperation with Kyrgyz counterpart institutions under mechanisms such as the China-Central Asia Business Council, expand the functions of multilateral and bilateral business cooperation mechanisms, and promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, he said.

During the forum, business representatives from China and Kyrgyzstan focused on cooperation and negotiations in areas such as agriculture, energy, engineering machinery, building materials, and the digital economy, signing more than a dozen cooperation documents or letters of intent and achieving a number of cooperative results.

Companies seek closer ties at China-Kyrgyzstan business forum in Bishkek

The threat of the barrier lake formed after Wednesday's catastrophic mudslide at the Gyirong Port, a major China-Nepal land border crossing in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, continues to subside, with the lake's size steadily shrinking, according to an on-site monitoring team.

In the wake of the disaster, which has claimed at least seven lives and left more than 550 others missing in Gyirong, China Anneng -- a state-owned engineering and rescue enterprise -- has deployed teams to the disaster zone to support the search and rescue operations.

One of the teams tasked with monitoring the barrier lake, which sits over 10 kilometers upstream from the port, said real-time surveillance footage showed the lake was continuing to drain out.

"Our task today is to find a stable monitoring point on the opposite bank and install our detection equipment there to monitor the displacement of the landslide body and guard against the risks of a secondary collapse," said Chen Hanxiao, a member of the monitoring team from the Lhasa base of China Anneng.

The 15-member monitoring team have brought with it drones, satellite stations, and communication gear.

"A comparison of today's imagery with yesterday's shows that the water level here has dropped by about one-third. The receding water poses no further threat to the dam's structural integrity, buying valuable time for the rescue crews to carry out critical hazard mitigation work," said Hu Bo, head of the monitoring team.

However, Hu cautioned that despite the encouraging signs, the situation remains unpredictable given the region's complex glacial environment and changeable weather conditions. He stressed that real-time surveillance and data analysis are vital to assessing the barrier lake's stability and supporting follow-up operations.

The mudslide was triggered by a high-altitude glacier collapse on the Nepalese side, where the disaster had killed more than 620 people and left over 2,400 others missing, as of Saturday morning, according to the country's national disaster risk reduction and management authority.

Threat of barrier lake waning after massive mudslide near China-Nepal border