China's economic and trade ties with Tajikistan have seen significant development after years of concerted efforts to press ahead with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Tajikistan is one of the firm supporters in the Belt and Road cooperation, which was known as the first signer of a cooperation MoU with China on the Silk Road Economic Belt.

China now serves as Tajikistan's biggest source of investment and third largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching up to around 1.51 billion U.S. dollars in 2018 and China's direct investment in Tajikistan totaling 95.01 million U.S. dollars in 2017. Two-way trade is even projected to exceed three billion U.S. dollars over the next few years.

Some 300 Chinese-funded enterprises are engaging in investment activities in Tajikistan, becoming Tajikistan's largest taxpayer, according to People's Daily.

Meanwhile, a slew of signature projects under the BRI has already come into service.

The Dushanbe-2 thermal power station is one of them completed in 2016, which offers 60 percent of the power needed by the Tajik capital Dushanbe, and restarted central heating for over 700,000 local residents after a 15-year interval.

The Vahdat-Yavan railway has been completed along with bridges and tunnels, connecting the previously-separated railways in southern and northern Tajikistan.

A closer relationship is expected on account of Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Tajikistan and presence at the fifth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) from June 14 to 16.