Cooperation between China and Tajikistan, which agreed to forge a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2017, has flourished in the past few years. 

Tajikistan is among the first countries that joined the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). When talking about future cooperation between the two countries, Ms. He Wenping, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told CGTN that transportation assistance and bilateral investment are key areas worthy of attention.

"Central Asia as a whole is a very key partner in the [BRI]. Tajikistan is among those Central Asian countries, that's why we need to integrate our BRI with their development strategy, especially in the [following] three areas."

Ms. He noted China has already built a lot of roads, tunnels and bridges that have already significantly developed their infrastructure but more roads, specifically those leading to mountainous areas, need to be built.

She also emphasized the significance of developing the agricultural industry. "Tajikistan has their own agricultural products like cherries and nuts and so on. Those things need to be value-added, to attract Chinese manufactures [and] companies to invest there. Those value-added final products can eventually be exported to China."

Their manufacturing industry also needs to be upgraded. "They have very good [and] high quality cotton. That cotton also needs to be made into value-added products like clothes, maybe even with good designs and made into a famous brand. [These areas] also need China's investment," she added.