The cooperation protocol was signed by China’s Vice Commerce Minister Zhong Shan and Uzbekistan Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade Elyor Ganiev in Rizhao, east China’s Shandong Province, during the third meeting of the China-Uzbekistan intergovernmental committee of cooperation on Monday, Xinhua reported.

China and Uzbekistan will develop mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation and give priority to bulk commodities, infrastructure, renovation projects and industrial parks.

The Silk Road Economic Belt is part of the Belt and Road Initiative, the international trade and infrastructure projects proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.